Covid-19 What help is available to the self-employed?
The government have announced how it plans to support Britain’s five million self-employed workers throughout the Covid-19 pandemic.
The scheme will allow self-employed workers to claim a taxable grant worth 80% of their trading profits up to a maximum of £2,500 per month for the next 3 months.
Like the Job Retention Scheme this may be extended if needed.
Who can apply?
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
- 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 come 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 2016-19, HMRC will only use those years for which you filed a Self-Assessment tax return.
For more information the scheme and to find out how to apply use the link below to visit the Government website.
