Date posted: 7th Jul 2021
The fifth (and final) SEISS grant will be available for the self-employed to claim towards the end of July.
The eligibility criteria remain broadly the same as the fourth grant. Self-employed profits in 2019/20 must not exceed £50,000 and must be more than 50% of your total income. If that test is not met, then the same £50,000 and 50% tests are applied to average profits and total income over the four fiscal years to 2019/20.
Self-employed traders need not have claimed grants under the previous scheme to qualify for the July payment and will be required to confirm that their business continues to be adversely affected by Covid-19. The amount that traders will be able to claim will depend on how much their turnover has reduced by. If the reduction is more than 30% the grant will be 80% of average profits capped at £7,500 but if less than 30% only 30% of average profits, capped at £2,850.
The calculation of the turnover reduction is to be based on the differential between two periods:
- The pandemic period – a 12-month period starting on any date between 1 and 6 April 2020.
- The reference period – either 2019-20 turnover as reported on your 19/20 tax return, or in some cases the 2018-19 period.
There are exceptions for businesses which started trading after 31 March 2019 and different rules for partnerships. Note that receipts from previous COVID-19 support measures (previous SEISS grants, eat out to help out payments and local authority grants) should be excluded from the turnover calculations.
More details on the mechanics of this calculation can be found at https://www.gov.uk/guidance/work-out-your-turnover-so-you-can-claim-the-fifth-seiss-grant
Please let us have details of your SEISS grants for your 2020/21 tax return
As you are probably aware tax agents were not able to claim SEISS grants on their client’s behalf, and we do not currently have access to the amounts you have claimed. If you are self-employed and have received any SEISS grants in 2020/21 can you please let us have details of the amounts received so that we can include the correct amounts in your return. The amounts received are taxable but should not be included in your turnover as that would mean double counting.
