Legal advice: COVID-19 self-employed income support scheme

In response to the pandemic outbreak of COVID-19, the government has introduced a self-employed income support scheme to assist those who are self-employed.

Savanita Atwal at Woodfines Solicitors explains more.

What will the scheme provide?

This scheme will allow those who are self-employed 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

Eligibility

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

What happens next?

Unfortunately, you cannot currently apply for this scheme. Individuals will be contacted by HMRC if they are considered to be eligible to apply for this scheme online.

HMRC will calculate the individual’s grant using the average of their trading profits from their tax returns for the last three years.

The grant will be paid as a single lump sum covering March to May inclusive. HMRC hopes to start to pay the grants at the beginning of June. Further details of the scheme are expected to be provided by HMRC shortly.

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