Check if you can claim a grant through the Self-Employment Income Support Scheme
If you’re self-employed or a member of a partnership and have been impacted by coronavirus (COVID-19) find out if you can use this scheme to claim a grant.
Who can claim
Find out if you’re able to claim for a Self-Employment Income Support Scheme (SEISS) grant by checking that you meet all criteria in stages 1, 2 and 3.
Stage 1: Your trading status and when you must have traded
You must be a self-employed individual or a member of a partnership.
You must also have traded in both tax years:
You must also have traded in both tax years:
- 2019 to 2020
- 2020 to 2021
Stage 2: Tax returns and trading profits
You must have:
- submitted your 2019 to 2020 tax return on or before 2 March 2021
- trading profits of no more than £50,000
- trading profits at least equal to your non-trading income
Stage 3: Deciding if you can claim
If you think your business has been impacted by COVID-19, find out how to decide if you can make a claim.
When you make your claim you must tell us that you:
- intend to keep trading in 2021 to 2022
- reasonably believe there will be a significant reduction in your trading profits due to the impact of COVID-19 between 1 May 2021 and 30 September 2021
How different circumstances affect the scheme
There are some circumstances that you should take into account, such as:
- your return is late, amended or under enquiry
- you’re a member of a partnership
- you had a new child
- you have loans covered by the loan charge provisions
- you claim averaging relief
- you’re a military reservist
- you’re non-resident or chose the remittance basis
If you claim Maternity Allowance this will not affect your eligibility for the grant.
Find out more information on how your circumstances affect your eligibility.
Get ready to claim
The fifth grant is different from previous grants. In most cases, when making your claim you’ll need to tell us about your business turnover so we can work out your grant amount.
To make your claim, you’ll need to have 2 different turnover figures. You’ll need to work out your turnover for
April 2020 to April 2021
either 2019 to 2020 or 2018 to 2019
We’ll compare these figures to work out how much you’ll get.
We’ll compare these figures to work out how much you’ll get.
When you do not need turnover figures to claim
We will not ask you for any turnover figures if you started trading in 2019 to 2020 and did not trade in all of the following tax years:
- 2018 to 2019
- 2017 to 2018
- 2016 to 2017
How much you’ll get
If you need to tell us about your turnover
There are 2 levels of grant. HMRC will work out your grant amount based on how much your turnover is down by after we’ve compared your 2 turnover figures.
There are 2 levels of grant. HMRC will work out your grant amount based on how much your turnover is down by after we’ve compared your 2 turnover figures.
| How much your turnover is down by | What you’ll get | Maximum grant amount |
|---|---|---|
| 30% or more | 80% of 3 months’ average trading profits | £7,500 |
| less than 30% | 30% of 3 months’ average trading profits | £2,850 |
Example
This is an example of how we’ll work out your grant if your average trading profits were £42,000 over the last 4 tax years.
Start with your average trading profit (£42,000).
Divide by 12 = £3,500.
Multiply by 3 = £10,500.
If you’re eligible for the higher grant: Work out 80% of £10,500 = £8,400. You’ll get the maximum grant of £7,500. If you’re eligible for the lower grant: Work out 30% of £10,500 = £3,150. You’ll get the maximum grant of £2,850.
This is an example of how we’ll work out your grant if your average trading profits were £42,000 over the last 4 tax years.
If you’re eligible for the higher grant: Work out 80% of £10,500 = £8,400. You’ll get the maximum grant of £7,500. If you’re eligible for the lower grant: Work out 30% of £10,500 = £3,150. You’ll get the maximum grant of £2,850.
