Fifth SEISS Grant

In its 2021 Budget the government announced that a fifth and final Self Employed Income Support Scheme (SEISS) grant would be made available for the period from 1 May 2021 to 30 September 2021.

The online service to claim this has been live from late July 2021, and claims must be submitted by 30 September 2021.

You will be invited to make a claim by HMRC, and  the grant is available to those who were unable to claim the first three grants because their business was recently started.

How is the fifth SEISS grant different from previous grants?

Eligibility was expanded with the fourth and now the fifth grant, and some new checks imposed. Crucially for those new to self-employment, it’s no longer the case that only those who were eligible for the original three grants can apply.

You’re eligible for the fifth grant if the following is true:

• You carried on a trade, in both the tax years 2019/20, and 2020/21.
• You filed a 2019/20 Self Assessment tax return by 2 March 2021.
• Your trading profit was no more than £50,000.
• Your trading profit is at least equal to your non-trading profit. This means your trading profit must be at least equal to any money made outside of your business, such as that coming from a part-time job, or a pension.
• You intend to carry on trading in 2021 and 2022.
• You ‘reasonably believe’ your trading profits were (or will be) impacted by the coronavirus disruption between 1 May 2021 and 30 September 2021.

HMRC is aware people are claiming the SEISS grants when they shouldn’t be – either in ignorance of the rules and limitations or due to fraud.

In a recent update, it said it is ‘tackling serious fraud and criminal attacks’ and ‘will use [its] power to assess overpayments and issue penalties to support these priorities and we will not seek out innocent errors and small mistakes for compliance action’.

HMRC is contacting potential claimants individually rather than simply inviting applications on the SEISS website from anybody who believes they’re eligible.

What’s the process for claiming the fifth SEISS grant?

The steps will be as follows:

• HMRC contact: If you’re eligible based on your tax returns, HMRC will contact you in mid-July to give you a date that you can make your claim from. You might be contacted by email, text message, letter or within the online service.
• You apply online: You must still make a claim even though you may have spoken to HMRC and discussed the matter.
• Grant received: You’ll receive the grant money around six days after putting in the claim.

What will I need to make a claim for the fifth SEISS grant?

HMRC will need two different figures to work out how much your fifth SEISS grant should be:

• Your turnover for 12 months between 6 April 2020 and 5 April 2021.
• Your turnover for the tax years of either 2019/20, or 2018/19.

However, HMRC says it won’t ask for turnover figures if you started trading in 2019/20 and didn’t trade in the years 2018/19, 2017/18, or 2016/17.

How much will I get for the fifth SEISS grant?

HMRC has detailed how it works out the trading profits for SEISS but typically it works out an average based on your previous trading profits, as reported on your tax return.

Assuming you’re eligible, it then works out how much your turnover dropped based on the two turnover figures mentioned above.

• If your turnover has dropped by 30% or more, you’ll get an SEISS grant of 80% of three months’ average trading profits, based on a maximum of £7,500.
• If your turnover has dropped by less than 30%, you can claim an SEISS grant of 30% of three months’ average trading profits, based on a maximum of £2,850.

How will HMRC contact me about the SEISS grant?

HMRC will use the number it has on record for you. They will try three times to call you. If you don’t answer, it will write to you a second time and ask if you want to proceed with the SEISS eligibility checks.

Therefore, you may wish to log in to your Self Assessment, personal tax account, or Government Gateway account to ensure this number is up to date.

Alternatively, you can phone 0800 024 1222 to let HMRC know the number to use.