The Chancellor has this evening announced a new self-employed income support scheme.
The Government will pay self-employed people a taxable grant of 80% of their average monthly trading profit over the last three years, capped at £2,500 a month.
The scheme is open to people who make the majority of their income from self-employment, and who either (i) had a trading profit of less than £50,000 in the tax year ended 5 April 2019, or (ii) had an average trading profit of less than £50,000 for the three tax years ended 5 April 2019. The scheme is intended apply initially for the three months to the end of May 2020 with the payment being made in June once HMRC have set up the scheme.
To avoid fraud, it will only be open to people who are already self-employed and submitted a tax return for the tax year ended 5 April 2019 – anyone who was self-employed in that tax year but is yet to file their tax return for that year has four weeks to submit it in order to be eligible.
This scheme can apply to members of partnerships.
This scheme does not cover those who operate their business through a limited company. Such people who receive salary from their company might in some circumstances be eligible for some support via the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme announced last week.
If you missed the tax return deadline and need assistance to complete one quickly, or would like to discuss any other aspects of the measures, please call your usual contact or a member of our tax teams or email [email protected]