- On 26 March 2020, Rishi Sunak announced the highly anticipated measures to protect self-employed individuals via the new Self-employed Income Support Scheme
- This entails a taxable grant worth 80% of their average monthly profits over the last 3 years, up to £2,500 per month
- The grant will be paid direct to the self-employed individuals’ bank accounts
- It will be backdated to March 2020 and open for at least 3 months and extended if necessary
- It is only open to those with trading profits up to £50,000 but this is expected to benefit 95% of self-employed individuals
- It will only apply to those who make the majority of income from self-employment
- Only those who have a tax return for 2019 can apply in a measure to minimise fraud
- Access to the grant is expected by the beginning of June when 3 months’ worth of grant will be received
- HMRC will contact those who are eligible with an online form
- Anyone who missed the 31 January 2020 tax return filing deadline has 4 weeks (from 26 March 2020) to submit their tax return
- Income tax payments due in July can be deferred to the end of January 2021
- Self-employed individuals can continue to do business while claiming the grant
See the Government guidance here.
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https://www.aspirepartnership.co.uk/News/3416/covid19-self-employed-income-support-scheme
