Fifth SEISS grant
07 July 2021
Eligible individuals will be able to make claims in relation to the fifth Self-Employment Income Support Scheme (SEISS) grant in late July.
Those who are eligible will be contacted by HMRC from mid-July to notify them of their personal claim date, which will be the earliest date from which they can claim.
The amount paid under the fifth grant will be determined by a turnover test for the majority of individuals. Further information about this is available here. The test will look at how much an individual’s turnover has reduced in tax year 2020-21 as a result of the pandemic.
Anyone who was not eligible for the fourth grant will not be eligible for the fifth grant as the same tax returns are used to establish eligibility for both grants.
The steps that eligible individuals need to take are as follows:
- They may need to calculate their 2020-21 turnover figure. HMRC will contact them if they are required to do this
- There is no need for them to submit their 2020-21 Self-Assessment tax return at this time. The deadline for Self-Assessments for 2020-21 remains as 31 January 2022
- They must prepare to submit claims themselves. Agents cannot submit claims on behalf of their clients, as doing so may cause a delay to the claim process, or could result in a claim being rejected
A reminder has been circulated that SEISS grants are taxable and liable to self-employed National Insurance (NI), and so must be reported on tax returns.
An auto-correct solution has been implemented that will address most new incorrect returns, but individuals may need to take certain steps to ensure that they aren’t charged tax and self-employed NI twice on the grants that they received. Further information can be located here.
The information in this article is accurate at the time of publication. For all the latest information, news and resources on how the COVID-19 pandemic is affecting payroll professions, visit our Coronavirus hub.