Self Employed Income Support Scheme - Third Grant

The Government have extended the Self Employed Income Support Scheme (SEISS) from 1^st November 2020 and here is what you need to know:

The third stage of the SEISS allows those eligible to claim a taxable grant of 80% of your average monthly trading profits, paid out in a single instalment and capped at £7,500 altogether.
If you were not eligible for the first and second grant based on the information in your Self-Assessment tax returns, you will not be eligible for the third.
HMRC expects you to make an honest assessment about whether you reasonably believe your business will have a significant reduction in profits and your business must have had a new or continuing impact from coronavirus between 1^stNovember 2020 and 29^th January 2021 in order to make a claim for the third grant
Claims can be made from Monday 30^thNovember 2020 and if you qualify you can claim anytime up until 29^th January 2021.
The grant does not need to be repaid if you are eligible but will be subject to Income Tax and self-employed National Insurance and must be reported on your Tax Return 2021.
You must keep evidence to support your claim.
When you make your claim, you are confirming in the declaration to HMRC that you qualify for it and have satisfied all the conditions.

Who can claim?

To be eligible for the third grant you must be a self-employed individual or a member of a partnership. You cannot claim the grant if you trade through a limited company or a trust and if you claim Maternity Allowance this will not affect your eligibility for the grant.
You must have traded in both tax years:
2018/19 and submitted your Self-Assessment tax return on or before 23^rdApril 2020 for that year
2019/20.

You must either:

be currently trading but are impacted by reduced demand due to coronavirus
have been trading but are temporarily unable to do so due to coronavirus

You must also declare that:

you intend to continue to trade
you reasonably believe there will be a significant reduction in your trading profits

Reasonable belief

In order to claim, you must reasonably believe that you will suffer a significant reduction in trading profits due to reduced business activity, capacity or demand or inability to trade due to coronavirus during the period 1 November to 29 January 2021.
You must keep evidence that shows how your business has been impacted by coronavirus resulting in less business activity than otherwise expected.

Significant reduction

Before you make a claim, you must decide if the impact on your business will cause a significant reduction in your trading profits for the tax year you report them in.
HMRC cannot make this decision for you because your individual and wider business circumstances will need to be considered when deciding whether the reduction is significant.
You should wait until you have a reasonable belief that your trading profits are going to be significantly reduced (due to the coronavirus pandemic) before you make your claim.
HMRC have published some examples that can help you decide.

How we can help

HMRC will not allow accountants and agents to make the claim on your behalf and we are also not allowed to create or access your Government Gateway account, just like on the first and second stage. Therefore, this is something that you will need to claim yourself.

However here is some guidance to assist you:

Claiming via the Gateway

If you are eligible, you will need to have a Government Gateway ID and password set up, that enables you to access your personal tax account.

You will be able to do this as part of the application process and this will ensure that the correct type of credentials is set up and avoids the need to wait for an authorisation code.

You will need your UTR number, NI number and passport details to hand (if you do not have a passport HMRC can verify your identity using your credit records). You will be asked to create a password. Simply follow the onscreen instructions to set one up.

You should make a note of your Government Gateway ID and password as you are completing the process.

Please note: If you claimed under the first or second stage of the SEISS you will already have a Government Gateway ID and password.

The following link gives details on how to make your claim, the conditions that you must satisfy and what information you will need.

How to claim

Other ways to claim

There is a telephone based SEISS grant application service for the digitally excluded to use and HMRC can be contacted on 0800 0241222.

Informing HMRC and repaying the SEISS grant

You must tell HMRC if you have made a claim (for either the first, second or third stage) and you received more than you were entitled to, or were not eligible for the grant, including if you were not adversely affected.

Failure to do so or submitting an incorrect claim is an offence which can lead to penalties of up to 100% of the grant claimed, as well as having to pay back the original grant.

Tell HMRC and pay back the Self-Employment Income Support Scheme grant if, when you made the claim you:

were not eligible for the grant
received more than you were entitled to

Further support

There will be a fourth grant covering February 2021 to April 2021 and HMRC will set out further details, including the level of the fourth grant in due course.

Finally

Once you receive your claim, if you feel the amount is incorrect, please let your accountant know so they can investigate this for you. However, the following link gives information on how HMRC will calculate your grant:

How HMRC will calculate your grant