There are a lot of hurdles to be overcome.
The first is easy. You must have sent in your Tax Return for the year ended 5 April 2019. If you haven’t
then you have until 23 April to do it!
The second hurdle is have you traded during the year ended 5 April 2020, are you continuing to trade in
the year to 5 April 2021 or would be trading if it were not for the virus, and have you lost profits as a
result of the virus? You need to answer “yes” to these questions.
The third hurdle relates to the level of self-employed income. First you have to look at the self –
employed income declared on your Tax Return for the year ended 5 April 2019. It must be less than
£50,000 and it must be more than half your taxable income. If you fail these tests, you can look at
answering the questions instead by reference to the average profits reported on your Tax Returns for
the three years ended 5 April 2019.
Unlike the assistance being given to employees, the self-employed can continue working and still get the
grant.
You do not apply for the grant. HMRC will contact you if they think you qualify. That is when they will
presumably ask the questions referred to in this blog.
We do not know if there will be a procedure whereby people who have not been contacted by HMRC
can ask to be included. Now is the time to see if you will be one of the “lucky” ones. Oh and yes the
grant is taxable!
