Fifth SEISS Grant

Detailed guidance about the fifth SEISS grant will be published ahead of the scheme opening. In the meantime, here are the latest SEISS updates.

Calculating the fifth SEISS grant

The amount of the fifth grant will be determined by a turnover test, which details how much your turnover has reduced in the 2020-21 tax year compared to pre-coronavirus trading.

You do not need to have submitted your 2020-21 Self Assessment tax return to be able to calculate turnover to claim the fifth SEISS grant. However, you may want to ensure your records are up to date so that turnover for the year April 2020 to April 2021 is readily available.

If your turnover reduced by 30% or more, you will receive a grant worth 80% of three months’ average trading profits (capped at £7,500). If your turnover reduced by less than 30%, you will receive a grant worth 30% of three months’ average trading profits (capped at £2,850).

Eligibility for the fifth grant

To be eligible, self-employed people (including members of partnerships) must:

have submitted their 2019-20 tax return on or before 2 March 2021
have trading profits that are no more than £50,000 and at least equal to their non-trading income, based on their 2019-20 tax return or an average of relevant tax years between 2016-17 and 2019-20
declare that they intend to continue to trade and are either:
- currently trading but are impacted by reduced activity, capacity or demand due to coronavirus
- or have traded previously but are temporarily unable to do so due to coronavirus (if the only reason a customer is temporarily unable to trade is because they have to quarantine or self-isolate after going abroad, this does not meet the requirement).
declare that they have a reasonable belief that there will be a significant reduction in their trading profits between May and September 2021 due to reduced business activity, capacity, demand or inability to trade due to coronavirus.

If you heard from HMRC that you were not eligible for the fourth grant, you will not be eligible for the fifth SEISS grant either. This is because the same tax returns have been used to determine eligibility for both grants.

If you are ineligible for SEISS, you may still be eligible for other UK Government support, including Restart Grants, the Recovery Loan scheme, business rates relief and other business support schemes. For more details, search ‘coronavirus support’ on GOV‌‌.UK.