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Self Employment Income Support Scheme – Portal open this week

As you may have heard, the online portal to allow you to claim the Self Employment Income Support comes online on 13 May 2020.

The first step is to check your eligibility with HMRC using there ONLINE CHECKER

Please note that although you may have confirmed your eligibility to make a claim, the tool does not include the following tests that need to be met before making a claim:

  • You traded in the tax year 2019 to 2020
  • You intend to continue in trade in the tax year 2020 to 2021 (current tax year)
  • You carry on a trade which has been adversely affected by Coronavirus (this includes shielding, self isolating, sick leave, caring responsibilities, fewer customers/work).

Assuming the above is correct, a claim can be made.  You will have to confirm to HMRC that your business has been adversely affected by Coronavirus.

It is important to note that although you may be eligible to make the claim based on how long you have traded for, a claim should only be made were your trade has been adversely affected by the Coronavirus.  Judging by the tone of previous government announcements, they are keen to ensure that public money goes were it is most needed.  In the future, HMRC may wish to check the eligibility of the grant with the individual to ensure all of the eligibility criteria is met.

How to make a claim

The claim will need to be completed via the individuals government gateway.  Unlike other schemes, an agent (ie accountants) are not able to make the claim on your behalf.  Therefore you will have to ‘dig out’ this ID and password, probably from around the time you registered as self employed.

If you do not have one, you can set one USING THIS LINK HERE!!!  Please note, if you already have set one up and just forgot, you will not be able to set up a new one.  You will have to use THIS LINK TO RESET THE DETAILS.  This will delay the processing of the claim.

We do not know exactly how the portal will work but we assume that around 13 May 2020, HMRC will release a link.  Once the link is released, you will then need to login and follow the online prompts.

How much can I claim

HMRC will automatically calculate the grant based on your average trading profit over the last 3 tax years (2016 to 2017, 2017 to 2018 & 2018 to 2019).  The grant will be 80% of your average monthly trading profits, paid out in a single instalment covering 3 months, and capped at £7,500 altogether.  HMRC will also advise you on how the amount was calculated.

Providing everything goes well and bank details are provided, you will receive payment within 6 working days.

What else will I need to provide

You will also need to provide HMRC with the following:

  • Self Assessment UTR
  • National Insurance number

First thing to do is to check you have your government gateway login details and test to make sure they work.