Final SEISS grant – Applications for the second grant

As you are already aware from my earlier articles, there is a second and final SEISS grant available for those who are still being adversely affected by Coronavirus.

If you are eligible, you will be able to apply for the second grant from Monday 17^th August but presumably this will be on a staged basis again in line with the first grant to try to prevent the system being overloaded.

HMRC state that they will contact you to let you know if you may be eligible. There was an online eligibility checker for the first grant that also let you know the exact date you were able to make your claim from but unfortunately there doesn’t yet appear to be a similar facility for the second grant.

Applications for the second and final SEISS grant will be made in the same way as the first and use your online government gateway account, which you will have already set up. Unfortunately, we will not be able to complete these claims on your behalf but can assist you and check any grant awards if you would like us to.

The eligibility criteria remains the same as the first grant, apart from the dates that you need to be adversely affected. You need to have been adversely affected by Coronavirus on or after 14 July 2020 to be eligible for the second and final SEISS grant.

Applications for the first grant of course closed back in July, but you do not need to have claimed the first grant to be able to claim the second. Both claims are independent of each other and this is especially relevant if you are have only recently been affected.

What does adversely affected mean?

Examples of being adversely affected include –

• being unable to work because you:
  • are shielding
  • are self-isolating
  • are on sick leave because of coronavirus
  • have caring responsibilities because of coronavirus
• having to scale down, temporarily stop trading or incur additional costs because:
  • your supply chain has been interrupted
  • you have fewer or no customers or clients
  • your staff are unable to come in to work
  • one or more of your contracts have been cancelled
  • you had to buy protective equipment so you could trade following social distancing rules

Where possible, it is advised that you keep evidence of how you were adversely affected, along with the appropriate dates, in case it is ever queried in the future.

As a reminder, you are still able to continue trading where possible or earning income elsewhere, without jeopardising your claim, as long as you are still adversely affected by Coronavirus.

The second and final SEISS grant will be 70% of your average monthly trading profits for three months. These will be calculated in the same way as the first grant, but the rate will be reduced to 70% from 80%, in line with the reduction in the furlough scheme payments.

The total amount of the second grant will be capped at £6,570 (the cap for the first grant was £7,500).

To estimate how much your second grant will be, you can take the amount of first grant you received and multiply it by 87.5% (which is the equivalent of dividing it by 80% and multiplying it by 70%).

The grants are expected to be paid again direct into you bank account within 6 working days of application.

Both grants will be taxable and liable to Class 4 national insurance in 2020/21 and will need to be disclosed on your tax return. We are awaiting on further guidance to see the exact procedure of how this will be done.

The grant income also needs to be included in any universal credit or tax credit award claims.

If you have claimed any grant and now realise that you shouldn’t have made the claim or you have been overpaid, then you need to inform HMRC and repay the funds within 90 days of receiving the grant (or 20 October 2020 if later). Penalties may be charged if you do not inform HMRC.

There is an online facility to make this disclosure and please get in touch if you believe this may be relevant to you and we can provide the necessary details.

There has been a slight change in how HMRC will assist new parents who are self employed and have been adversely affected but not initially eligible.

For those who were initially ineligible due to a reduction in profits/income or not completing a tax return in 2018/19, may now be able to make a claim as HMRC will just look at their tax returns for 2017/18 and 2016/17 instead to assess eligibility.

This applies to those who temporarily stopped trading to have a baby which also includes caring for the baby for up to 12 months and there are also special rules for adoptions and still births.

If this does apply to you, then you will need to complete a separate online form to inform HMRC that you wish to claim for the first and/or second grant under this criteria and applications are now open.

If you do feel this applies to you, then again please get in touch and we can advise you further.

Please note, this new ruling only applies to those who were originally not eligible and will not effect the amount of grant new parents will receive.

If you do have any queries regarding the final SEISS grant or any of the above, then please do not hesitate to get in touch with your usual point of contact at Albert Goodman who will be able to assist you.