Accounting, Scaling Businesses
Accounting
Fifth Self-Employment Income Support Scheme (SEISS)
Aug 13, 2021
Aug 13, 2021
Throughout the pandemic there have been a number of grants available from the government for those working self-employed. These grants have been referred to as “Self-Employment Income Support Schemes” (SEISS). To date, there have been 5 of these grants made available, with the most recent in July 2021.
The SEISS Fifth Grant, opened in July and covers the five month period from May to September 2021. The grant is worth either 80% or 30% of three months’ average trading profits, depending on how much your turnover has reduced. The online service for this grant opened on Wednesday 28th July and in order to obtain this, you must make your claim on or before Thursday 30th September 2021.
Within this blog we will cover the core points you need to be aware of, whether you are eligible, how you can make a claim and what accepting this grant will mean for you and your tax.
We have already briefly covered what the Fifth SEISS grant means but it is worth noting that it is quite different to other grants that have previously been made available. What you are able to claim will now be based on turnover reduction in the year April 2020 to April 2021 and as previously mentioned, there are levels of cover available: 80% and 30%.
Similarly to other grants, your accountant is not able to apply for this on your behalf, however they can of course advise you and assist you in making the right decision.
The grant covers the period of 1st May to 30th September (five calendar months).
The eligibility criteria has been divided into 3 core stages, all of which need to be met in order to qualify for this claim:
Stage 1: Your trading status and when you must have traded
You must be a self-employed individual or a member of a partnership
You must also have traded in both tax years: 2019-2020 and 2020 to 2021
You cannot claim the grant if you trade through a limited company or a trust.
Stage 2: Tax returns and trading profits
You must have:
Stage 3: Deciding if you can claim
When you make your claim you must tell HMRC that you:
NOTE: If you are not eligible based on your 2019-20 tax return, HMRC will look at the tax years 2016-2017, 2017-2018, 2018-2019 and 2019-2020.
Further guidance on how to work out your turnover is available here
If you are eligible to make this claim based on the above criteria, you will need the following information:
HMRC will use these two figures to calculate how much grant you are entitled to. This will be calculated using the following:
If you would like to make a claim, and you are eligible, you can visit the government portal here
During the application process, you will also require the following:
You may have already been contacted by HMRC with your “earliest date to apply”, which for some people was the 29th of July.
Once you have completed your application, HMRC will go through these details and confirm your eligibility. If accepted, you will receive the grant funding into your bank account within six working days of receiving your claim. The SEISS grant allows self-employed individuals to continue working, unlike furloughed employees.
If you receive a grant, it is important that you keep hold of the following information to support with the above reporting:
If after reading this, you are thinking of applying for the SEISS fifth grant, you can do this here
Accounting, Scaling Businesses
Download our most recent guide on how to realise cash in your business
