Claiming Self-Employed Income Support Scheme grants

Under the third Self-Employed Income Support Scheme (SEISS) grant, claimants received up to 80% of average trading profits for November and December 2020, and January 2021. This meant that a maximum grant for the three months of £7,500 was made available to those who met the eligibility requirements. The claim window for this grant has now closed.

The government has confirmed that a fourth SEISS grant will be made available from 1 February 2021 to 30 April 2021. The level of this grant and application criteria for this fourth grant will be announced at Budget day on 3 March 2021.

It is likely that the same qualification rules will apply as was the case for the third grant. This means that you must be currently trading but have been impacted by reduced demand due to coronavirus or have been trading but temporarily are unable to do so due to coronavirus disruptions.

HMRC’s guidance states that the concept of reduced demand can apply if your business has been impacted by reduced activity, capacity or demand due to coronavirus.

For example, you:

• have fewer customers or clients than you’d normally expect, resulting in reduced activity due to social distancing or government restrictions
• have one or more contracts that have been cancelled and not replaced
• carried out less work due to supply chain disruptions

You cannot claim if the only impact on your business is increased costs. The SEISS grant is treated as taxable income and is also subject to National Insurance contributions.