Author: NJB Taxback

We still do not have your Gov. login account details, we use an Accountants gateway!

The GovernmentThe Government’s Self-Employment Income Support Scheme will be extended and will pay out a final grant.

This will be the final grant from the self-employment income support scheme. (SEISS)

Applications for the second grant will open in August, you will have to confirm your business has been adversely affected on or after 14 July 2020 on the application.

The Second Grant, which comes in August, is for those whose business was impacted by Covid-19 on or after 14 July. 

The first grant is for those whose business was impacted by Covid-19 before 13 July. 

If your business has been impacted both before and after the dates, you may apply for both Grants.

Those eligible will be able to claim the final grant in August, which will be worth up to 70% of their average monthly net profits, though it’s capped at £6,570 overall. 

Your net profit is your total income minus your total expenses, if you claimed a large tax rebate, you will have lower net profits, than someone on a similar income who received less of a tax rebate. 

The final Grant will be paid out in one single instalment.

Use Our Calculators to check your estimated Grant payments.

You can use our “First payment” calculator to estimate your second grant based on the amount of your first grant. 

You can use our Annual net profits calculator to estimate both grants based on your net profits.

Use Our Calculators to check your estimated Grant payments.

The eligibility criteria are the same for both grants, and you don’t need to have claimed the first grant to receive the second grant.

Here’s what you need to know about the second and final grant. 

Here’s what you need to know about the first grant

SEISS – the Government grant to self-employed individuals whose businesses have been adversely affected by coronavirus – opened for applications on Wednesday 13 May. 

It initially covered three months (March, April and May) and the grants were worth up to 80% of profits, capped at £2,500 per month, or £7,500 in total. 

If you’re eligible for the scheme you can still apply for this first grant, but the Government’s now said that you’ll need to do so by Monday 13 July.

Full information on eligibility criteria for the scheme can be found in this guide Coronavirus Self-Employed & Small Limited Company Help, but in brief:

• Your average trading profit must be less than £50,000/year. This is essentially a ‘cliff-edge’ requirement – so those whose average annual trading profit is more than £50,000 (to be specific, £50,000.01 and above) won’t be able to get any support from this scheme.

• You must earn more than 50% of your total income from self-employment. This must have been the case for either your 2018/19 tax return or, if not, the average of your 2016/17, 2017/18 and 2018/19 tax returns. Income from property, dividends, savings, pensions and taxable benefits all count as “non-trading income” and qualify for the SEISS. The total of these combined must NOT exceed 50% of your total income. For more information on which benefits count as “taxable income”, see our full list here.

• Grants are based on your profits over three tax years. They are based on an average of the tax returns for 2016/17, 2017/18 and 2018/19.

• You must have filed a tax return for 2018/19. This means you must have been self-employed prior to 6 April 2019. The last possible moment to file a 2018/19 tax return was Thursday 23 April (the deadline had been extended from 31 January 2020). If you only had a few months’ self-employment on your 2018/19 return, this will be counted as your total profit for the year – the Government won’t pro-rata it based on your monthly profits.

We still do not have your Gov. login account details, we use an Accountants gateway!

Useful links and sources:

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/claim-a-grant-through-the-coronavirus-covid-19-self-employment-income-support-scheme

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/chancellor-extends-self-employment-support-scheme-and-confirms-furlough-next-steps

https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/news/2020/04/self-employed-help-coronavirus/

https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/news/2020/05/government-s-self-employment-support-scheme-extended-and-furloug/

https://www.rossmartin.co.uk/covid-19/4632-covid-19-proposed-statutory-self-employment-pay-scheme

We still do not have your Gov. login account details, we use an Accountants gateway!

The Government’s Self-Employment Income Support Scheme will be extended and will pay out another single grant covering three months, the Chancellor has announced. 

He also said this will be the final grant from the self-employment 
scheme.

Those eligible for the Self-Employment Income Support Scheme (SEISS) will be able to claim the additional grant in August, which will be worth up to 70% of their average monthly net profits, though it’s capped at £6,570 overall. 

The money will again be paid out in a single instalment covering June, July and August.

Your Net profit is your total income minus your total expenses, if you claimed a large tax rebate, you will have lower net profits, than someone on a similar income who received less of a tax rebate. 

Use Our Calculators to check your estimated Grant payments.

You can use our first calculator to estimate your grants based on your net profits.

You can use our second calculator to estimate your second grant based on the amount of your first grant. 

Use Our Calculators to check your estimated Grant payments.

SEISS – the Government grant to self-employed individuals whose businesses have been adversely affected by coronavirus – opened for applications on Wednesday 13 May. 

It initially covered three months (March, April and May) and the grants were worth up to 80% of profits, capped at £2,500 per month, or £7,500 in total. 

If you’re eligible for the scheme you can still apply for this first grant, but the Government’s now said that you’ll need to do so by Monday 13 July.

Here’s what you need to know about the first grant

Applications for the second and final grant will open in August. 

It’ll be worth 70% of average monthly trading profits, again paid out in a single instalment covering three months’ worth of average profits (June, July and August), though this time it’ll be capped at £2,190 per month, or £6,570 
in total.

The eligibility criteria are the same for both grants, and you don’t need to have claimed the first grant to receive the second grant. 

Here’s what you need to know about the second and final grant.

Full information on eligibility criteria for the scheme can be found in this guide Coronavirus Self-Employed & Small Limited Company Help, but in brief:

• Your average trading profit must be less than £50,000/year. This is essentially a ‘cliff-edge’ requirement – so those whose average annual trading profit is more than £50,000 (to be specific, £50,000.01 and above) won’t be able to get any support from this scheme.

• You must earn more than 50% of your total income from self-employment. This must have been the case for either your 2018/19 tax return or, if not, the average of your 2016/17, 2017/18 and 2018/19 tax returns. Income from property, dividends, savings, pensions and taxable benefits all count as “non-trading income” and qualify for the SEISS. The total of these combined must NOT exceed 50% of your total income. For more information on which benefits count as “taxable income”, see our full list here.

• Grants are based on your profits over three tax years. They are based on an average of the tax returns for 2016/17, 2017/18 and 2018/19.

• You must have filed a tax return for 2018/19. This means you must have been self-employed prior to 6 April 2019. The last possible moment to file a 2018/19 tax return was Thursday 23 April (the deadline had been extended from 31 January 2020). If you only had a few months’ self-employment on your 2018/19 return, this will be counted as your total profit for the year – the Government won’t pro-rata it based on your monthly profits.

Further guidance on the second grant will be published on Friday 12 June.

We still do not have your Gov. login account details, we use an Accountants gateway!

Useful links and sources:

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/chancellor-extends-self-employment-support-scheme-and-confirms-furlough-next-steps

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/claim-a-grant-through-the-coronavirus-covid-19-self-employment-income-support-scheme

https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/news/2020/04/self-employed-help-coronavirus/

https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/news/2020/05/government-s-self-employment-support-scheme-extended-and-furloug/

https://www.rossmartin.co.uk/covid-19/4632-covid-19-proposed-statutory-self-employment-pay-scheme

*Firstly, we do not have your Gov. login account details, we use an Accountants gateway.*

HMRC have today introduced the online eligibility checker for the Self-Employment Income Support Scheme (SEISS), as well as setting out more criteria for the funding.

Criteria: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/claim-a-grant-through-the-coronavirus-covid-19-self-employment-income-support-scheme#check

Checker: https://www.tax.service.gov.uk/self-employment-support/enter-unique-taxpayer-reference

The eligibility checker does three things:

• Confirms eligibility for the grant

• updates your contact details

• Invites you to create a gov. account to claim online if you haven’t already got one

It does not:

• Tell you how much you will receive

• When you will receive it

By creating an online Gov account, this will no doubt speed up your application process.

If you do not have a Gov account, you can create one using the eligibility checker, this should take you no more than 15 minutes, you will need your UTR and national insurance number, both of which can be found in your NJB TAXBACK online profile.

We can assist in the creation of an account for you, we can only create new accounts for existing clients, and I’m afraid that will incur a non-profit admin fee of £20

Creating a gov account should take us no more than 25 minutes; we can not restore access to previously created accounts.

For us to create your Gov account, we will need a copy of your valid passport photo page, a current utility bill or proof of address would also be helpful.

• We do not have your personal gov gateway information we have an accountants gateway.

HMRC will still be writing out to everyone as discussed, and they will be inviting people to create an online gov account, or if this is not possible, including more information on alternative ways to apply.

We also found this link to be very informative:

https://www.tax.org.uk/policy-and-technical/covid-19/self-employment-income-support-scheme

The information regarding universal credit also seems to back up our theory that universal credit received before the grant will not need to be paid back or reduce the amount you receive.

However, It will certainly reduce any future amounts you receive.

We do not wish to comment further on U.C as there is a lot of different information going around, from a lot of different sources.

So 72hrs have now passed since the Governments Self-employed Support scheme was announced, here are the Key facts:

Self-employed people will be invited to apply for a taxable grant worth 80% of their average monthly Net profits over the last three years, up to £2,500 a month. Only 20% of this grant needs to be paid back, next year.

(If you have only completed one Tax return then it will only be based on one, if you have two then it will be based on two etc.)

Your Net profit is your total income minus your total expenses, if you claimed a large tax rebate, you will have lower net profits, than someone on a similar income who received a lower tax rebate.

The more you claimed then, the less you get now!

Use this calculator to see how much you could be eligible to receive: https://njb-taxback.co.uk/help/self_employed_ssp_calculator

HMRC have asked that People do not contact HMRC. You can not apply for this grant, HMRC will contact you directly if you are eligible.

You can still work and claim the full entitlement to this Grant.

You can still complete your 19.20 return as normal, it may take slightly longer to receive your repayment, purely due to the higher than normal amount of submissions.

If you are out of work now, you will be able to claim employment and support allowance (ESA) and/or Universal Credit. This will not affect your eligibility for the grant or the amount you receive.

The weekly payment for ESA is typically £73.10 or £57.90 for people under the age of 25.
https://www.gov.uk/employment-support-allowance

The payments for Universal Credit have been temporarily raised so that the self-employed receive the same amount as someone on statutory sick pay (£94.25 a week).
https://www.gov.uk/universal-credit

You can not still work and claim the full entitlement to these benefits, if you return to work you must update your benefit claim.

You must apply as a couple if you live with a partner, even if you are not married. Your partner’s income may affect your eligibility.

If you had a universal credit account before, you do not need to go through the full application again, you should be able to reapply through your existing account.

Small business reliefs and loans: A “Small Business” is defined by having a minimum of six employees, if you are a sole trader with less than 6 employees, you are a micro business

A lot of questions being raised about this year being your first year as self-employed and the grant requires an 18.19 return.

We firmly believe, as do many other accountants, and as was discussed during a BBC question time interview.

HMRC have suggested that people with less than 12 months accounts would be looked at based on what they have?

Assuming your 19.20 return is submitted ASAP, then HMRC will have a full set of 12 months accounts to review.

Please remember that this scheme is brand new and the eligibility criteria are based on the 5.3 million self-employed workers as a whole, it is not based on each and every individual case.

As long as you are fair, genuine and can submit a genuine application to be reviewed, we do believe that HMRC will allow some bending of criteria to accommodate.

This scheme is all about fairness and parity, as long as you are fair, you will be fine.

For the time being construction sites are allowed to remain open, although we expect this to change soon.

If you are an Essential worker you are legally allowed to work if you choose to, and can remain more than 2 meters apart.

If you are an Essential worker you also are not legally required to work, if you choose not to.

If you are not an Essential worker you must stay home.

For the time being, remain patient, sit tight, stay healthy and stay home.

A Big Thankyou to more than 500,000 people who have come forward as NHS Volunteers.

Use this calculator to see how much you could be eligible to receive:

https://njb-taxback.co.uk/help/self_employed_ssp_calculator

How do I claim the help?

HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) will use existing information to identify those eligible and will invite applications

The application will require them to confirm that they meet the eligibility requirements

The taxable grant will be paid straight into a bank account, which eligible taxpayers will need to confirm on their application form.

The taxable grant, backdated to March, will arrive directly into people’s bank’s accounts from HMRC, but not until June.

HMRC have asked that People do not contact HMRC. If they are eligible HMRC will contact them directly

For the time being, remain patient, sit tight, stay healthy and stay home.

A Big Thankyou to more than 500,000 people who have come forward as NHS Volunteers.

A lot of questions being raised about this year being your first year as self-employed and the grant requires an 18.19 return.

Also regarding the 50% self-employment income.

We firmly believe as do many other accountants, and as was discussed during a BBC question time interview.

HMRC suggested that people with less than 12 months accounts would be looked at based on what they have?

Assuming your 19.20 return is submitted ASAP, then HMRC will have a full set of 12 months accounts to review.

Please remember that this scheme is brand new and the eligibility criteria are based on the 5.3 million self-employed workers as a whole, it is not based on each and every individual case.

As long as you are fair, genuine and can submit a genuine application to be reviewed, we do believe that HMRC will allow some bending of criteria to accommodate.

This scheme is all about fairness and parity, as long as you are fair, you will be fine.

Also regarding the 50% self-employed Income, if you were PAYE for more than 50% of the year, with various different companies, on a ZERO hour contract.

Then this should not be counted towards the 50% self-employment income rule, and you would not eligible for the PAYE net pay scheme.

Again open to interpretation and can always be appealed and reviewed.

There will be 100,000s of people to which this applies, and I am quite confident in saying, you won’t be left out.

To see how much you may be eligible to receive please check out this calculator:

https://njb-taxback.co.uk/help/self_employed_ssp_calculator

For the time being, remain patient, sit tight, stay healthy and stay home.

A Big Thankyou to more than 500,000 people who have come forward as NHS Volunteers.

The chancellor, Rishi Sunak, has unveiled an emergency support package to protect Britain’s 5 million self-employed workers.

It will be called the Coronavirus Self-employment Income Support Scheme

Under the scheme, Self-employed people will be able to apply for a grant worth 80% of their average monthly Net profits over the last three years, up to £2,500 a month.

(If you have only completed one Tax return then it will only be based on one, if you have two then it will be based on two etc.) 

Your Net profit is your total income minus your total expenses, if you claimed a large tax rebate, you will have lower net profits, than someone on a similar income who received a lower tax rebate. 

The more you claimed then, the less you get now! 

By the time the scheme becomes available anyone who has submitted their 19.20 return, which can be completed on the 6th of April 2020, should have those figures included in HMRC’s assessment.

To be eligible for the scheme you must: 

• Have Net profits are under £50,000 a year
• completed at least one self-assessment return by the time of the eligibility assessment, if this is your first year in self-assessment then you need to get the 19.20 return filed as soon as possible.
• At least half their income needs to have come from self-employment as registered on the 2018-19 tax return filed in January – anyone who missed the filing deadline has four weeks from now to get it done and still qualify.
• Late tax filers who complete their forms in the next four weeks will also be contacted by HMRC directly. The fines that were due in May for those who did not file in January will be wiped.

Unlike the employee scheme, the self-employed can continue to work as they receive support.

The level of profit loss during the three month period would not be calculated, so whether someone lost 5% or 100% of profit because of the coronavirus, they were still entitled to an 80% grant

• The money, backdated to March, will arrive directly into people’s bank’s accounts from HMRC, but not until June.
• The grants will be taxable and will need to be declared on tax returns by January 2022.
• The support will not be available until June. 

You can use this calculator to see how much you may be eligible to receive:
https://njb-taxback.co.uk/help/self_employed_ssp_calculator

To stop the gap until that time the Government has said self-employed people can apply for help via the benefits system:   

• Should their income dry up, they will be able to claim employment and support allowance (ESA) and/or Universal Credit. The weekly payment for ESA is typically £73.10 or £57.90 for people under the age of 25.
• The payments for Universal Credit have been temporarily raised so that the self-employed receive the same amount as someone on statutory sick pay (£94.25 a week). 
• The Government has also said it will make it quicker and easier for people to access these benefits.
• Mortgage and rental holidays available for up to three months.
• Local authorities are also set to get a £500m hardship fund to provide vulnerable people with council tax payment relief.

How do I claim the help?

• HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) will use existing information to identify those eligible and will invite applications
• The application will require them to confirm that they meet the eligibility requirements
• It will be paid straight into a bank account, which eligible taxpayers will need to confirm on their application form
• HMRC have asked that People do not contact HMRC. If they are eligible HMRC will contact them directly

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-52052123

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/mar/26/coronavirus-uk-offers-self-employed-80-of-earnings

Self-Employed Help!

What to take from today’s announcement.

If you are self-employed with profits of up to £50k and who have been adversely affected by the coronavirus, a taxable grant worth 80% of their average monthly profits over the last 3 years, up to £2,500 per month.

https://njb-taxback.co.uk/help/self_employed_ssp_calculator

Open for at least 3 months across the UK, Extended if necessary.

It is only for those who are already in self-employment and who have a tax return for 2019, if your 18.19 return is still overdue, you have four weeks now to submit the return in order to remain eligible for the grant.

The first payment will likely come in around June and would be backdated to include all amounts due up to that point.

With regards to average over 3 years, if you have only completed one Tax return then it will only be based on one, if you have two then it will be based on two

More updates to follow, please check out our calculator to see how much may be available to you.

There are no changes to report this morning, the 80% Net Pay support package has not yet been finalised.

We can expect a Government update by the end of the week

As of now Universal credit and ESA along with Mortgage relief and Renter’s protection remain about the only Government assistance on offer.

Update to Universal Credit: Waiting queue number is more than 130,000 it is almost impossible to get through. It will then take approximately 5 weeks to receive a payment.

You must apply as a couple if you live with a partner, even if you are not married. Your partner’s income may affect your eligibility.

If you had a universal credit account before, you do not need to go through the full application again, you should be able to reapply through your existing account.

MOT Update: All cars, vans and motorcycles which would normally require an MOT from March 30 will have the requirement deferred for six months under a new law which will remain in place for 12 months.

Drivers can still be prosecuted if their vehicles are unsafe and the government says mechanics will remain open for “essential repair work”.

NHS Staff: Parking charges for NHS staff will be lifted while they fight the coronavirus outbreak, the Government has said, with the move following a public outcry.

NHS workers will also be able to park for free in council-owned car parks and parking bays, and Matt Hancock, the Health Secretary, said the move was in response to the “unprecedented challenge” faced by the NHS.

For the time being construction sites are allowed to remain open, although we expect this to change soon.

You are legally allowed to work if you choose to, and can remain more than 2 meters apart.

You also are not legally required to work, if you choose not to.

Most suppliers will be shutting soon, which will force closure in most cases.

For the time being, remain patient, sit tight, stay healthy and stay home.

A Big Thankyou to more than 500,000 people who have come forward as NHS Volunteers.

There are no changes to report this morning, the 80% Net Pay support package has not yet been finalised.

As of now Universal credit and ESA along with Mortgage relief and Renter’s protection remain about the only Government assistance on offer.

Update to Universal Credit: you must apply as a couple if you live with a partner, even if you are not married. Your partner’s income may affect your eligibility.

For the time being construction sites are allowed to remain open, although we expect this to change soon.

You are legally allowed to work if you choose to and can remain more than 2 meters apart.

You also are not legally required to work, if you choose not to.

Most suppliers will be shutting soon, which will force closure in most cases.

For the time being, remain patient, sit tight, stay healthy and stay home.