SEISS: The 5th & Final Round

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5th SEISS Grant - how to claim

HMRC has already started contacting possible eligible sole traders and partnerships for the 5th and final Self Employed Income Support Scheme grant announced by the Government last year.

HMRC’s online access for applications is due to open later this month (July) and the grant will cover the period 1st May 2021 through to 30th September 2021.  You can claim the 5th grant if you believe that your business profit will be impacted by coronavirus between these dates.

This round of grants requires turnover calculations to be done by the applicant, following four stages to determine the two turnover figures required in the application and hence, how much they will be eligible for.

  1. You will first need to work out your turnover (money received) for a 12-month period starting from any date between 01/04/20 to 06/04/20. Your figure must include the turnover from all your businesses.  You can ask us at Taxfile for your figure if we have submitted your 20/21 tax return.  If you haven’t yet done your 2020/21 tax return, it might be an opportunity to contact your tax agent at Taxfile and bring in your financial data for the period, so we can give you an accurate figure, as HMRC will be able to check the figures once you do submit your tax return.
  2. The second stage is to adjust the 12-month turnover figure by removing the monies received from any SEISS grants or COVID relief grants from the council/government.  Although these grants are viewed as subject to income tax and national insurance, they will not be considered as part of your 12-month turnover figure for the 5th SEISS grant.
  3. The third stage requires you to calculate a previous year’s turnover to use as a reference figure. This is the 2nd figure you will need for the application.  HMRC states that in most cases you must use the 2019/20 tax return as your reference year.  If for any reason 2019/20 was not a normal year, you can use the turnover reported in your 2018/19 tax return.  For ‘not a normal year’, HMRC has stipulated the following examples; being on carers or sick leave for a prolonged period, losing a large contract, reservist duties, or being eligible for the 5th SEISS grant but not having submitted a 21019/20 tax return.  The turnover for your reference figure can be found on the tax return summary we would have issued you.  If you need this figure, please do not hesitate to contact your tax agent on 020 8761 8000.
  4. The fourth stage is to compare the two turnover figures. Only when the figure from stage 3 (the reference year) is greater than that obtained for the 20/21 figure will you be eligible for the 5th SEISS grant.  Furthermore, if the 2020/21 turnover figure has reduced by 30% or more when compared to the reference turnover figure, the grant will be 80% of the 3-month average profits, with the maximum grant payment capped at £7,500.  If the 2020/21 turnover is less than 30%, the grant will be 30% of the 3-month average profits, capped at £2,850.

4th SEISS Grant Available THIS Week

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4th SEISS Grant Available THIS Week

If you are self-employed or a member of a partnership and have been impacted by coronavirus (COVID-19), the 4th Self-Employment Income Support Scheme (SEISS) grant will be available to those eligible from this week (w/c 19 April 2021), and the online service for the fourth SEISS grant is now online HERE

The grant covers the period from 01/02/2021 – 30/04/2021 and eligibility for the fourth grant is dependent on you having traded for both tax years:

  • 2019 to 2020 and submitted your tax return on or before 2 March 2021
  • 2020 to 2021

You must either:

  • be currently trading but are impacted by reduced demand due to coronavirus
  • have been trading but are temporarily unable to do so due to coronavirus
  • intend to continue to trade
  • reasonably believe there will be a significant reduction in your trading profits

The same criteria that were applied for the first 3 SEISS grants still apply & this grant will be 80% of your average trading profits for up to 4 tax years (2016/17, 2017/18, 2018/19, & 2019/20) for 3-months.

The closing date for the 4th SEISS Grant is 01 June 2021.

By now you should have received an email form HMRC stating when you can claim your 4th SEISS grant from.  If you need any assistance with your claim, please do not hesitate to contact us on 020 8761 8000 or email/message us here.

SEISS Grant 4 – News Coming Soon!

SEISS Grant 4 – News Coming Soon!

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Money Saving Expert founder Martin Lewis has announced¹ exclusive news about a possible 4th SEISS Grant for self-employed people. The Self-Employment Income Support Scheme (SEISS) offers direct financial support from the Government for those self-employed people who have seen a significant drop in profits due to the coronavirus pandemic, where eligible. He says the official announcement is currently scheduled for 3rd March 2021 during the Chancellor of the Exchequer’s Spring Budget.

Applications for the current 3rd SEISS grant closed on the 29th of January. The fourth SEISS grant period will cover the months February, March and April. Martin’s exclusive information suggests:

“… there will not be an announcement made on the amount of that grant and who is eligible […] until the budget, which is on the third of March. So over a month after the grant period starts, there won’t be news on exactly how much money you can get, and who is going to get it.”

He goes on to say:

“I doubt this actually means that people will receive their money any later, relatively, than they have done in the prior grants, because you’ve never been able to apply on the first day of the period”

Martin goes on to confirm that he suspects Read more

Taxfile Partners with Local Government to Offer Self Assessment Assistance

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With the self-assessment tax deadline looming in the midst of a global pandemic and no announcement of an extension from the government (28 days would do), 5.4m* taxpayers (45%) still needing to submit a tax return before the 31st January and many of those are left feeling hopeless and helpless, unsure how to complete it themselves and having difficulty finding or affording an accountant who can do it on their behalf.

Some will attempt to complete the tax return online themselves but without a Government Gateway ID that task will be impossible.  Obtaining the Government Gateway ID would require having their ID checked and confirmed online and without a valid UK passport and/or driving licence the task will lead to long phone calls on hold waiting for a HMRC advisor, who are currently running somewhat of a skeleton crew as a result of the pandemic (at least that’s the impression given due to the long waiting times even on the authorised agents helplines and the reduced opening hours).

Even if you do have Government Gateway ID (and password), you will need to work through HMRC’s Self-Assessment form, deciding which of the sections are relevant to you & compiling the information required for each part. Take a look at these help sheets especially useful for people with self-employed earnings (some of the business income references use the word business which can confuse as the rules and guidelines are equally applicable to sole traders working for themselves).

Also check out the HMRC’s toolkit: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/hmrc-business-profits-toolkit.

 You will need to accurately assess all your business income and more so, expenses, ensuring the correct figures are entered and submitted.  Knowing what expenses you can and can’t claim can really have a negative or positive effect on the tax bill you will be presented with at the end but how do you ensure you are paying the correct amount of tax?

 Looking for assistance from HMRC’s website can provide some valuable information if you know what you are looking for (see the help sheets mentioned above) but from the distance, for the everyday taxpayer, this task can be rather daunting.  Finding personal help, assistance, and guidance can be difficult, especially when the people that can help those most are currently experiencing their busiest period in the industry whilst coping with the effects of COVID on their workforce.

Many may opt for the avoidance strategy until the £100 late filing penalty lands on their door and further threats of daily fines & interest kicks them into action.  You will have a ground to appeal any fines or penalties if you have been affected by COVID.  This will involve writing a formal letter to HMRC and providing any evidence they may request to overturn the fine.

We do recommend that however hard it maybe, it’s a good idea to put some money on your HMRC self-assessment account to settle last year’s tax if you can at least estimate it because at the end of February any tax still outstanding from the previous year which ended 05/04/20 will attract a surcharge which is almost impossible to appeal against so give it a go and work out your taxable profit and then put it in this calculator so you can guesstimate how much you need to rustle up.

If you need an injection to your cash flow even if you were eligible and claimed for the SEISS grants, we would strongly recommend you apply for the Bounce Back Loan Scheme (BBLS) if you have not done so already.  This can be done via your bank provider online & in many cases they may require you to open a business bank account.  You are then eligible for a maximum of 25% of your 2018/19 business turnover (a minimum of £2k and maximum amount of £50k being leant).  The interest rate for this loan is 2.5% for 6-years and the government will pay the interest for the first 12-months of the loan.

Taxfile is currently working closely with local government and our director is on the board of the local business improvement district, we like to think of ourselves as the local tax office for the people of south London, we may be able to give you a little help along the way so why not give us a call for a free 20 minute confidential chat on 020 8761 8000

 

*figure correct on 01/01/21

Self Assessment Income Tax Returns 2019/20 – COVID Edition

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To date there has been no change on the deadline to submit and pay your 2019/20 Self Assessment Income Tax return by 31st January 2021.

In preparation for our busiest period in the year we have been doing everything to ensure both our offices and business practices are ready to cope with the changes imposed on us by the Coronavirus pandemic.

At Taxfile we have been doing everything we can to make sure our offices comply by current pandemic safety practices.   We have fitted perspex screens between staff and clients, only allowing 2 clients in at a time, minimising each visit to a maximum of 15-minutes & socially distancing our staff members on site with a maximum of 3 in the main office at one time.

We would like to stress to all our existing & potential customers, we ARE OPEN if you need help in submitting your 2019/20 tax returns.  We currently offer a variety of ways to help you:

  1. Booking an appointment to see a tax agent face-to-face for 15 minutes – call us on 020 8761 8000 so we can arrange a time and date with you
  2. Offices are open for you to drop off paperwork to be processed and then sent through to a tax agent who can then discuss your return over the phone with you or face-to-face
  3. Email service where all electronic data can be sent directly through to the tax agents via emails, this is probably the easiest, quickest, and safest way to proceed.  You can directly send the agents your financial data through on email or using services such as dropbox or google sheets.  They can then calculate your return and liaise with you via phone & email.
  4. You can book an online ‘virtual’ meeting HERE

Regardless of which way or combination of ways suits your needs, know that we are here for you till the deadline date of 31/01/2021 but urge you to contact us sooner than later as we are restricted by the number of people we can physically see & data we can work through during these uncertain times.

We are also urging our clients to pay via online banking for their Taxfile invoices, details found on the bottom of our invoice, reducing the need to come in or phone in to pay a bill as we need to reduce the number of people in the office for health and safety & therefore reducing our resources available.  We are still accepting all payment forms but if clients CAN pay via online banking, then we are encouraging them to do so.

If you have not submitted your 2019/20 tax return (that in most cases will run from 6th April 2019 through to 5th April 2020), then now is the time to get all your financial data together, and decide which of the four methods outlined above will be most convenient for you.  Get in touch now & don’t leave it till the last minute.  This year is like no other!

SEISS Grant – Round 3

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Instead of constantly updating our original SEISS grant post we decided to create a new one as over the last month the government has chopped and changed the requirements, the dates, & the amount available due to the everchanging situation around the COVID-19 pandemic.

The points that need to be highlighted for the third extension of the SEISS grant are:

  • The prerequisite is the same as the previous two SEISS grants (changing from a prerequisite to be working if applying).
  • The amount is 80% for 3-months determined from your average trading profits like in the 1st SEISS grant application (changing from 20%, then 40%, then 80% for November & 40% for December and January)
  • Applications will open from 30/11 and will most probably follow suit of the two other applications, in that using your UTR & NI number you will then be given a date/time you can apply (changing from applications opening on 14/12/20).

If you need any help determining your application date or with the application then please call us on or after 30/11 on 020 8761 8000.

Job Support Scheme Replaces the Job Retention Scheme from 1st November 2020

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The Job Support Scheme for employees starts 1 November 2020

The Job Retention Scheme (JRS) winds down at the end of October. It will be followed, for the next six months, by a new job support scheme, which subsidises the wages of employees working at least a third of their normal hours, to further support viable UK employers who face lower demands due to COVID-19.

In an attempt to keep employees attached to the workforce, the Government will be introducing a new Job Support Scheme from 1 November 2020, where employees will need to work a minimum of 33% of their usual hours.

For every hour not worked the employer and the Government will each pay one third of the employee’s usual pay. The government contribution will be capped at £697.92 per month.

Employees using the scheme will receive at least 77% of their pay (where the Government contribution has not been capped) & the employer will be reimbursed in arrears for the government contribution. The employee must not be on a redundancy notice.

The scheme will run for six months from 1 November 2020 and is open to all employers with a UK bank account and a UK PAYE scheme.

All Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (SMEs) will be eligible. Large businesses will be required to demonstrate that Read more