HELP FOR THE SELF EMPLOYED
Chancellor Rishi Sunak has announced measures to support the
self-employed and partnerships.
The scheme is called the
Coronavirus Self-employment Income Support Scheme (CSEISS).
If you have suffered a loss in income, a taxable grant will
be paid to the self-employed or partnerships, worth 80% of profits up to a cap
of £2,500 per month.
Initially, this will be available for three months in one
lump-sum payment and will start to be paid from the beginning of June.
You cannot apply for this scheme yet. HMRC will contact you
if you are eligible for the scheme and invite you to apply online.
Government advice: Individuals do not need to contact HMRC
now and doing so could delay the work being undertaken to introduce the scheme.
Who is eligible?
Self-employed individuals and a those who are a member of a
partnership. In addition, those eligible must have more than half their income
from being self-employed and:
•
have submitted your
Income Tax Self-Assessment tax return for the tax year 2018-19
•
traded in the tax year
2019-20
•
are trading when you
apply, or would be except for COVID-19
•
intend to continue to
trade in the tax year 2020-21
•
have lost
trading/partnership trading profits due to COVID-19
Your self-employed trading profits must also be less than
£50,000 and more than half of your income come from self-employment. This is
determined by at least one of the following conditions being true:
•
having trading
profits/partnership trading profits in 2018-19 of less than £50,000 and these
profits constitute more than half of your total taxable income
•
having average trading
profits in 2016-17, 2017-18, and 2018-19 of less than £50,000 and these profits
constitute more than half of your average taxable income in the same period
If you started trading between 2016-19, HMRC will only use those
years for which you filed a Self-Assessment tax return.
There a few individuals who have not submitted their 2018-19
Self-Assessment tax return and to qualify they now have until the 23 April 2020
to do so.