SEISS: two more rounds of support for self-employed

by Michael Blaken

Following the announcement of a second national lockdown, due to Coronavirus, not only has the Government extended the furlough scheme, it has announced another round of support for self-employed business people.

The SEISS – Self-Employment Income Support Scheme – is being extended and will comprise two grants: the first to cover November 2020 to January 2021, and the second to cover February 2021 to April 2021.

Eligibility criteria are the same as those applied to the previous two SEISS grants. To claim you must be:

• self-employed or in a partnership
• have been previously eligible for the SEISS first and second grants, although you do not have to have claimed them
• actively trading, but with your business affected by reduced demand due to coronavirus, or have previously been trading, but temporarily unable to do so due to coronavirus.

The first grant, covering 1 November 2020 to 31 January 2020, will be based on 80% of three months of average trading profits, paid out in a single instalment and capped at £7,500 in total.

The second grant will cover the three-month period from 1 February 2021 until 30 April 2021. The Government will review the level of the second grant and set this in due course.

The aim of the SEISS is to offer similar support to self-employed people that employed people receive under the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme.

As before, the grants are taxable and also subject to National Insurance. Claims can be made from 30 November 2020 and further guidance on this will be issued by HMRC.

If you are self-employed, or in a partnership, and would like some advice on taxation or accounting, or information about the SEISS and Government support during Coronavirus, please get in touch with the tax team at Optimum.