Second Self Employment Income Support Scheme

Second Self Employment Income Support Scheme (SEISS)

The second Self Employment Income Support Scheme (SEISS) opens for applications today and those eligible will receive a government grant worth up to £6,570

This week HMRC are writing to self-employed people who may be eligible for the grant. Those eligible will be given a date to make a claim and they can do this any time between their allocated date and the 19‌‌^th of October 2020.

The eligibility criteria for the second grant is exactly the same as the first grant – so self-employed people who were eligible for the first SEISS grant will be eligible for the second grant, so long as their business has been adversely affected since the 14^th of‌‌ July 2020.

This typically means that your business has experienced lower income and / or higher costs because of coronavirus (COVID-19) since 14‌‌ July. There is no minimum threshold over which a business’s income, costs or activity need to have changed by, but you will be asked to keep appropriate records as evidence of how your business has been adversely affected.

The second taxable grant is worth 70% of average monthly trading profits, a reduction from the 80% available under the first grant. This will be paid out in a single instalment and will be based on three months’ worth of trading profits and capped at a maximum of £6,570.

Further information

Guidance on how the grant works can be found on the Government website
Eligible customers will be informed that they will be able to make their claim for the second and final grant at any time from a specified date, until the scheme closes on 19 October 2020.

Eligible Parents

Self-employed parents whose income may have been affected if they took time out to have children will also now be able to claim if they meet the eligibility criteria. There’s more information for new parents, including an online form on GOV‌.UK

Help

I cannot make a claim for you as a client but I can help you with it.

If you can apply online, this is the quickest and easiest way to claim whilst helping HMRC prioritise those that most need extra help. It takes most people less than 5 mins to claim online using their Government Gateway account. There are also new webinars and a short video on HMRC’s YouTube channel that you can use to ensure you know how the process works.

Once you have completed a claim, you will receive payment within 6 working days.

Protect yourself from scams

Stay vigilant about scams, which may mimic government messages as a way of appearing authentic and unthreatening. Don’t give out private information or reply to text messages, and don’t download attachments in emails you weren’t expecting. Search ‘scams’ on GOV‌.UK for information on how to recognise genuine HMRC contact. You can also forward suspicious emails claiming to be from HMRC to phishing@hmrc.gov.uk and texts to 60599.