Support for self-employed earners mirrors somewhat the relief for employees via the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS). 80% of earnings based on an average from the last three tax years, and capped at £2,500 per month.
The support will not be available until June, although it is back-dated to 1 March 2020 and therefore will be paid as a lump sum. If you qualify, HMRC will contact you and supply a form to complete and once completed will transfer the payments directly to your bank account.
The key qualifying criteria are:
- You will need to have completed an income tax return for the business;
- Your earnings from the business need to be less than £50,000 per year last year or on average for the last 3 years;
- The amount will be based on average monthly earnings over the past three years
The Minimum Income Floor for universal credit has also been suspended and self-employed earners can also access universal credit at a rate equivalent to SSP for employees (£94.25 a week) and defer their payments on account, due on 31 July, until 31 January 2021..
Owner directors of companies who may take a nominal salary and top this up with dividends have limited support from CJRS and may not qualify for this support. As soon as more information is released, rest assured we will communicate this with you and the necessary advice will be available from TC Group.
Contact us today to discuss the points raised in this post or any other concerns you have as a business owner, about your personal finances, or, as an employer now on 0330 088 7111.