Support For The Self-Employed

For, as much as we’ve been told to stay apart – and please do – in some ways we’ve never been closer together. Supporting each other. The same holds true for businesses up and down the country, as we look to mitigate the damages and support industries that find themselves overwhelmed.

Despite the overwhelming feeling of doom and gloom, there are beaming examples of extraordinary generosity from SMEs in all locations who are doing their part to get through this unprecedented time. No matter what happens, this will pass, and we will recover. Many extraordinary businesses will come out the other side and thrive once more.

Support for the Self-Employed

Under the Self-Employed Income Support Scheme (SEISS), self-employed individuals can apply for a grant worth 80 percent of their typical trading profits, capped at £2,500 per month. However, the self-employed can continue to work alongside this assistance.

SEISS is only available to those earning under £50k and will be available for three months. Additionally, self-employed individuals—or members of a partnership—need to have submitted their 2018-19 Income Tax Self-Assessment tax return and traded in the 2019-20 tax year.

Applicants must also be trading when they apply, or would have been if coronavirus had not impacted their business, and intend to continue trading in the 2020-21 tax year. Those who have lost trading or partnership profits due to coronavirus are eligible for SEISS.

The scheme will be available for three months, and any applicable payments will be deposited by HMRC in a lump-sum format in June. This will be subject to declaration on January 2022 tax returns (taxable as income).

HMRC will be using “existing information to check potential eligibility,” and will send out direct invitations to the scheme—self-employed workers are urged not to contact HMRC directly.

Property Owners

There is some relief for property owners during the coronavirus pandemic with a three-month mortgage payment holiday for residential and buy-to-let landlords,

‘If you have a variable rate mortgage with the recent decrease in interest rates, moving forward the mortgage interest costs will reduce, as will the 20% tax credit, but that won’t help the tax liability that will be due for the 2019-20 tax year.

Also, a reminder when contemplating selling buy to let property, as from 6 April 2020, people who sell a property, apart from their principal residence, will have to pay capital gains tax (CGT) within 30 days instead of the current 22 months.

In the meantime, we hope you stay safe. Stay indoors, wherever possible, and take a moment to breath in this rather chaotic and uncertain time.