Self-employed: Future SEISS grants

Self employed people can claim SEISS grant no 4 from late April 2021 and no 5 from late July 2021. Both are available to those who:

1. submitted their 2019/2020 returns latest 02 March 2021;
2. are still and intend to keep trading in 2021;
3. suffered a big drop in profits due to reduced activity, reduced capacity, and an inability to trade due to coronavirus.

A difference this time round is that income from tax year 2019/2020 will be taken into consideration. This means that those who started trading during the pandemic may qualify. This may not be great for long term traders whose average income over the last four years (2016/2017 to 2019/2020) may have been seriously dented by a drop in 2019/2020.

The next SEISS grant, up to 80% of monthly profits and capped at £2,500 per month, covers 01 Feb 2021 to 30 April 2021 and can be claimed between late April and 31 May 2021. As with previous grants, HMRC will do the calculations based on 80% of average annual profits and send an email invitation to apply.

The last SEISS grant covers the three months May, June and July 2021 and is claimable from late July. Calculations this time around will be based on turnover, and only those whose turnover has dropped by at least 30% will be entitled to the full 80% of profits. Where turnover has dropped by less than 30%, the grant will be 30% of average profits, max £2,850.

It’s important to remember that if a trader has other sources of income, the average annual self employment earnings must be at least half of total personal income in order to qualify for SEISS grants. Additionally, trading profits must not exceed £50,000.