The self-employed can make a claim under the third tranche of the Self-Employed Income Support Scheme (SEISS) from 30th November.
As previously announced, self-employed businesses can claim an SEISS grant for the three months to 31st January 2021 for 80% of average business profits with the grant capped at £7,500 in total.
In order to qualify the sole trader or partner must:
- have traded in both 2018/19 and 2019/20;
- be trading currently and intend to continue to trade;
- have had trading demand adversely impacted by COVID or COVID restrictions;
- have a reasonable belief that trading profits for the trading year will be significantly reduced due to the impact of COVID or COVID restrictions on activity, capacity or demand.
The qualifying criteria have been tightened, and businesses will need to consider them carefully. The main restriction is the claimant must have a reasonable belief that trading profits for the year will be significantly reduced due to the impact of COVID, and they will need to keep records to demonstrate this.
Therefore, before making a claim, businesses need to consider whether the trading profits that they would have achieved in the current period have been adversely impacted by reduced activity due to COVID and that this can be demonstrated.
As with previous tranches, the claim for the grant has to be made by the sole trader or partner and cannot be made by their adviser.
If you would like to discuss whether you qualify for the third tranche of SEISS, please contact your local partner on 0330 088 7111.