Who can claim a SEISS grant?
Only those who complete the self-employment or partnership trading pages of a Self-Assessment tax return, with trading profits of less than £50,000 and most of your income from self-employment.
Those who earn income from property cannot apply for a SEISS grant. A member of an ordinary partnership can make a claim and their eligibility is based on their share of the profits.
To apply for a SEISS grant, you must have suffered a significant reduction in your profits because of COVID-19. You apply online and when you do you must declare that you intend to continue to trade if that is true. If you are eligible to apply for a fourth-round grant, HMRC will contact you in mid-April. If your claim is successful, you should expect to receive your payment within six working days.
What makes the fourth SEISS grant different?
Many self-employed people who have not so far been able to claim a SEISS grant may qualify for the fourth and fifth round – as long as they filed their 2019-20 Self-Assessment tax return by midnight on 2 March 2021. If you filed late – you cannot apply. You don’t need to have claimed the other SEISS payments to claim the fourth or fifth.
SEISS will now take into account 2019/2020 tax returns, so those who became self-employed in the 2019/2020 tax year may be able to apply.
Reporting a SEISS grant on your self-assessment return
You don’t need to repay a SEISS grant – it’s not a loan. However, SEISS grants are subject to Income Tax and Class 4 National Insurance contributions.
The SEISS grants are taxable in the tax year in which they are received. So, the first three SEISS grants are taxable in the 2020/21 tax year; the fourth & fifth grants are taxable in the 2021/22 tax year and should be reported on your 2021/22 Self-Assessment return.
To make it easier for self-employed people to enter money received from SEISS grants, HMRC will include a box on the 2020/21 and 2021/22 Self-Assessment tax return forms.
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