I work with hundreds of self-employed workers and I know how patiently you have all been waiting for information on help from the Government in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.
I’m here to give you good news and bad news today.
The good news – the scheme is launching
The Self-employment Income Support Scheme (SEISS) - designed to assist individuals who are classed as being self-employed through the outbreak of coronavirus - is going live next week.
The scheme allows self-employed individuals to claim a taxable grant of 80% of their average monthly trading profits up to £7,500.
The bad news – accountants can’t claim on your behalf
Unlike the furlough scheme, the self-employed cannot ask their accountant to make the claim on their behalf.
This will be frustrating for many of you who have always relied on us to help you with your paperwork.
Trust me, it’s frustrating for us too. But this newsletter is aimed at making this process as simple as possible for you.
What you need to do next
The online service will be available from 13 May. But you can check if you are eligible from today! Just use this link.
If you qualify, HMRC will tell you the date you can make your claim from. If your claim is approved you’ll receive your payment within 6 working days.
When checking if you are eligible, you will be asked to input your Unique Taxpayer Reference and National Insurance number.
If you have lost your Unique Taxpayer Reference number click here to find out how to retrieve it. If you can’t find your NI number you can click here for help. If we have completed your tax returns in the past, we may be able to provide you with both your UTR and NI number – just give us a quick call.
You will then be asked to sign into your Government Gateway account.
To do this you need your Government Gateway user ID and password. A lot of self-employed people may not have done this before but if you do not have a user ID, you can create one when you check your eligibility – the form will take you through this.
Please do this well before the May 13th launch date using this link – you do not want not be waiting until the last minute to make sure you have all the information you need to apply.
A final note
While we cannot submit the claim on your behalf, we are here to answer any questions you have.