The next stage of SEISS

The Chancellor Rishi Sunak recently announced under the Winter Economy Plan, a multitude of schemes and measures to support the British people and the economy. This included the ‘Job Support Scheme (JSS)’ as a replacement for the job retention support scheme, which proved a complete success in its duration. These measures comes at a time when many were questioning the support they’d receive from the Government in what should usually be an extremely busy run up to Christmas and beyond.

At the same time, he announced the next step for self-employed individuals who were previously able to claim a grant, if they met certain conditions, to replace lost income due to Covid-19. This has since evolved, and while the premise is the same as the previous SEISS, the stipulations have changed slightly.

For the latest claim, HMRC have said taxpayers must:

• Be currently eligible for the SEISS (although a previous claim doesn’t need to have been made)
• Be actively trading at the time the grant’s claimed and intend to continue to trade.
• Be impacted by reduced demand due to COVID-19 in the qualifying period.

The terms ‘actively trading’ and ‘impacted by reduced demand’ are new and further detail should in time be released, but it’s understood that the intention is that only viable businesses can claim going forward.

The qualifying period for the third claim runs from 1^st November and then be calculated at 20% of average monthly trading profits. It will be paid in a single installment and be capped at £1,875. The grant’s taxable again as per the previous scheme.