Round 2 for SEISS

HMRC has announced that in August, self-employed individuals who meet the criteria for the Self-Employed Income Support Scheme (SEISS) will be invited to apply for a second grant. This will be in addition to anything they received in May/June under the first round of the same scheme.

There are some significant changes as to how the grant is calculated, although many of the rules applying with the regard to the first grant will apply with regard to the second grant meaning that effectively the same eligibility criteria will apply. The principal change is a drop from 80% of averaged profits to 70% of the same figure. So, the second grant is equal to the lower of A and B where:

• A is the self-employed person’s average monthly trade profits × 70% × 3; and
• B is £6,570.

Although applications for the first grant must be made on or before 13 July, failure to make a claim for the first grant does not prevent you from claiming the second grant.

It's also probably worth a brief reminder of what the eligibility criteria are for both tranches of the SEISS. You can claim if you’re a self-employed individual or a member of a partnership and all of the following apply:

• you traded in the tax year 2018 to 2019 and submitted your Self Assessment tax return on or before 23 April 2020 for that year
• you traded in the tax year 2019 to 2020
• you intend to continue to trade in the tax year 2020 to 2021
• you carry on a trade which has been adversely affected by coronavirus

You can check your eligibility on HMRC's website here: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/claim-a-grant-through-the-coronavirus-covid-19-self-employment-income-support-scheme#eligible

It's also worth mentioning that you don't have to be "out of work" to claim under SEISS, that final point of eligibility is the interesting one, that your trade has been adversely affected by coronavirus. HM Treasury have published a Direction setting out the legal framework of SEISS, unfortunately (as with a lot of legislation) it doesn't helpfully define what "adversely affected by coronavirus" means. So, that must leave us to assume (for now) that it relates to a period of non-working, or of reduced profits due to reduced working. It would seem to prove to be a very grey area for now at least.

Finally, of course SEISS is going to be taxable in 2020/21, so check out my blog on that here.