Covid-19 Self-Employment Income Support Scheme

This scheme will allow self-employed individuals (including those who are members of a partnership) to claim a taxable grant worth 80% of your trading profits up to a maximum of £2,500 per month for the next 3 months. This may be extended if needed.
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The following is our understanding of this policy and how this will work based on the information published up to and including Midday on 27 March. It should not be relied on for final advice at this stage but is intended to give an indication of how the scheme will work.

Who is entitled:

You can apply if you’re a self-employed individual or a member of a partnership and you:

• have submitted your Income Tax Self-Assessment tax return for the tax year 2018-19 (if you haven’t then you have until 23 April 2020 to do so)
• traded in the tax year 2019-20
• are trading when you apply, or would be except for COVID-19
• intend to continue to trade in the tax year 2020-21
• have lost trading/partnership trading profits due to COVID-19

Your self-employed trading profits must also be less than £50,000 and more than half of your income from self-employment. This is determined by at least one of the following conditions being true:

• having trading profits/partnership trading profits in 2018-19 of less than £50,000 and these profits constitute more than half of your total taxable income
• having average trading profits in 2016-17, 2017-18, and 2018-19 of less than £50,000 and these profits constitute more than half of your average taxable income in the same period

If you started trading between 2016 and 2019, HMRC will only use those years for which you filed a Self-Assessment tax return.  HMRC will use data on 2018-19 returns already submitted to identify those eligible and will risk assess any late returns filed before the 23 April 2020 deadline in the usual way.

How much you’ll get:

You’ll get a taxable grant which will be 80% of the average profits from the tax years (where applicable):

• 2016 to 2017
• 2017 to 2018
• 2018 to 2019

To work out the average HMRC will add together the total trading profit for the 3 tax years (where applicable) then divide by 3 (where applicable), and use this to calculate a monthly amount.

It will be up to a maximum of £2,500 per month for 3 months and the grant will be paid directly into your bank account, in one instalment.  It is likely that the payment will be made in June 2020.

How to access the grant:

You cannot apply upfront for this grant.  HMRC will assess your eligibility and contact you if you are eligible for the scheme and then invite you to apply online.
Once HMRC has received your claim and you are eligible for the grant, they will contact you to tell you how much you will get and the payment details.
 
Other important notes:

The grant is taxable as part of your income

If you claim tax credits, you’ll need to include the grant in your claim as income.

You will access this scheme only through the gov.uk website only.  If anyone texts, calls or emails claiming to be from HMRC saying that you can claim financial help or are owed a tax refund then please do not give any personal information as it is possibly a scam.
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If you don’t qualify then you can apply independently for Universal credit

The Covid-19 Business Interruption Loan scheme is available for those requiring assistance before the grant is issued