Introduction
- This is our approach to all articles.
- A fifth grant covering May 2021 to September 2021 will be open to claim from late July 2021.
What has Changed
• In most respects the rules for the fifth Self-employment Income Support Scheme (SEISS) grant are the same as for the fourth grant.
• What has changed is that the level of the grant depends on whether turnover has dropped by more or less than 30%
Eligibility and Workings
- To be eligible for the grant you must be a self-employed individual or a member of a partnership.
- You must have traded in the 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
- To work out your eligibility for the fifth grant, HMRC first look at your 2019 to 2020 Self-Assessment tax return.
- You must make your claim on or before 30 September 2021.
- The grant is taxable and will be paid out in a single instalment
- Your trading profits must be no more than £50,000 and at least equal to your non-trading income.
- If you are not eligible based on your 2019 to 2020 tax return, then
- HMRC will then look at the tax years 2016 to 2017, 2017 to 2018, 2018 to 2019 and 2019 to 2020.
- Deciding if you can claim
- you must declare that:
- you intend to continue to trade
- you reasonably believe there will be a significant reduction:
- in your trading profits,
- due to reduced business activity,
- capacity,
- demand,
- inability to trade due to coronavirus from May 2021 to September 2021
- You must keep evidence that shows how your business has been impacted by coronavirus resulting in less business activity than otherwise expected.
- HMRC expects you to make an honest assessment about whether you reasonably believe your business will have a significant reduction in profits.
How the fifth grant is different
- The amount of the fifth grant will be determined by how much your turnover has been reduced in the year April 2020 to April 2021.
- You need to work out your turnover for a 12-month period.
- Your period must start on any day from 1 April 2020 to 6 April 2020.
- Those who prepare accounts on a tax year basis will be able to use the same figure as will appear on the 2020/21 tax return (it is not necessary to submit the return before making a claim, but the turnover figure for the SEISS claim will be checked after the return is filed).
- Those who use a different accounting date will need to make a separate calculation.
- The turnover figure should be for all of the taxpayer’s businesses, but exclude COVID-19 support payments (such as: SEISS grants, eat out to help out payments and local authority/devolved administration grants).
How much you will get
| Turnover reduction | How much you will get | Maximum grant |
| 30% or more | 80% of 3 months’ average trading profits | £7,500 |
| less than 30% | 30% of 3 months’ average trading profits | £2,850 |
When you can claim
- The online claims service for the fifth grant will be available from late July 2021.
- If you are eligible based on your tax returns, HMRC will contact you from mid-July 2021 to give you a date that you can make your claim from.