Millions of self-employed people are entitled to a grant from the Government if they are struggling financially due to coronavirus. Equally, millions of self-employed people are excluded from this. We detail how the Self-Employment Income Support Scheme (SEISS) works and who can and who can’t get the grants in our main guide (linked), and that’s the place to start.
Once you know you’re eligible, it’s important to understand that you must also be able to declare that your business has been “adversely affected” by coronavirus – this article takes you through that in detail.
- For the first SEISS grant, which is currently available (you must apply by Monday 13 July), you need to declare it has been affected from the beginning of the pandemic up to and including Monday 13 July.
- For the second SEISS grant, which opens for applications on Monday 17 August, you will need to declare your business continues to be affected (or is newly affected) from Tuesday 14 July onwards.
Here’s MSE founder Martin Lewis on how to assess if you’ve been adversely affected by coronavirus…
If you’re anything like me when I set up MoneySavingExpert, no one knows your business better than you do – you’re probably aware of every little change and trend. Before we even get to the technicalities, the start point here is, can you put your hand on your heart and say your business has been negatively impacted by coronavirus, and you are in a worse position than you would’ve been if it hadn’t happened? If the answer is yes, then in the vast majority of cases you should feel comfortable signing the declaration and getting the grant if you’re eligible.
HMRC is not looking to try to catch people out who are making honest declarations. So even if you’re working all hours and bringing some money in, if your business isn’t where it should be and coronavirus is to blame, then you’re entitled to say yes to the grant. And the payment isn’t structured to be proportionate to the impact, it’s binary – if you’re due money, you’re due it all; if you’re not, you’re not due a penny.
SOURCE: MSE