Claiming the self-employment final grant

Government support to the self-employed through the Self-Employment Income Support Scheme (SEISS) is due to end on 30 September 2021. A fifth and final grant covering the period May 2021 to September 2021 opened to claims in late July for those who have suffered a significant reduction in trading profits. To qualify for the grant, average trading profits must be £50,000 or less and nontrading income cannot exceed 50% of total income. The closing date for making a claim under the SEISS is 30 September 2021.

The grant offers those whose turnover has fallen by 30% or more the full 80% grant (capped at £7,500) whilst those whose turnover has fallen by less than 30% receive a 30% grant (capped at £2,850). This is different to the previous SEISS grants where there was only one grant available to qualifying applicants.

The majority of taxpayers claiming the fifth SEISS grant will be required to provide turnover figures in order to make a claim. The turnover figures will be used to compare the 'pandemic year' with a 'reference period'.

Newly self-employed people who had previously been excluded from claims because they commenced their trade during the 2019-20 tax year are eligible to claim the fifth SEISS grant as long as their tax return for 2019-20 was filed by midnight 2 March 2021. They must also have traded or intended to trade in 2020-21 and intend to continue doing so.

HMRC is also warning taxpayers to be on the lookout for SEISS-related scams and only to respond to correspondence that is verified to be legitimate.