The government announced yesterday that the second self-employed income support grant will open up for applications on August 17th, 2020 and that it is being extended until 19th of October 2020.
They have also announced that there are some groups of people who can now claim both the first and second grant:
1) Parents who are self-employed who didn’t submit a tax return for the 2018/2019 tax year, or whose trading profits were less than their other income (which made them ineligble for the grant) because they were pregnant or caring for their newborn/newly adopted child and still meet the other standard eligibility criteria.
You will need to confirm with HMRC that being a new parent has affected your trading profits or total income for 2018/2019 and provide supporting evidence. There will be the ability to do this for both grants through an online form in August 2020.
2) Those who are army, navy and air reservists who were self-employed and didn’t file a tax return for 2018/2019 or if you did file a return for the 2018/2019 tax year but your trading profits were affected by specified reservist activities carried out for at least 90 days, and you were self-employed in the 2017/2018 tax year and submitted a tax return for that year, and all other eligibility criteria is met.
In both of these circumstances, HMRC will work out your average trading profits by using your 2017/2018 tax return or both the 2016/2017 and 2017/2018 tax returns.
You can read the full updated guidance here: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/claim-a-grant-through-the-coronavirus-covid-19-self-employment-income-support-scheme – under the “Who can claim section”.
The government has also updated the information on how different circumstances affect the SEISS grant scheme by adding additional examples of what being adversely affected means, a section for parents, and a section for military reservists. You can read the full article here: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/how-different-circumstances-affect-the-self-employment-income-support-scheme
I am continually monitoring the updates that the government and other business-related departments release and will continue to share that information for as long as I feel that it is beneficial to all businesses in the UK.
The information and policies are continually being updated by the government, so I urge you to keep on top of the information by visiting the relevant website for your area.
UK: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/guidance-to-employers-and-businesses-about-covid-19/covid-19-support-for-businesses
Scotland: https://www.gov.scot/coronavirus-covid-19/
Wales: https://gov.wales/business-and-employers-coronavirus
Northern Ireland: https://www.nibusinessinfo.co.uk/
I will be trying to keep myself as informed as possible and will share relevant information on my fb business page: https://www.facebook.com/ihelmenterprises/