Coronavirus - help for the self employed
26th of March, 2020Following the 5pm briefing today by the Chancellor, we now know what relief is available for the self employed.
The good news is that there is something and the bad news is that it will only be paid from early June onwards - which slightly defeats the object of encouraging the self employed to stay home, but if you can negotiate a loan/have savings etc there is some light at the end of the tunnel.
HMRC are administering the scheme.
Basics:
- Provided you have filed your 2019 tax return, you will get 80% of your average monthly trading profit over three years to a maximum of £2,500 per month.
- The Chancellor is allowing another 4 weeks to submit any outstanding 2019 tax returns.
- If you have less than three years, HMRC will base the average on what has been submitted.
So the trading profit figure for your 2016/17 tax return; 2017/2018 tax return and 2018/2019 tax return are the key figures.
Unfortunately there are two notable exceptions:
- Anyone who has made an average loss over that period
- Anyone who has started in self employment since 5 April 2019. Even though we are close to the end of the 19/20 tax year, they will not be eligible.
The other exclusion will be where anyone has an average trading profit in excess of £50,000.
If anyone needs assistance with their 2019 Tax Return - let us know as soon as possible.
