We have been asked alot of question during this time of uncertainty. I have listed below a few of the more common ones. Hopefully this will help answer some of them. If you are still unsure about anything, please ask me. If I hear any updates on this, I will let you all know.
Q – When and how do I apply for the Self Employed Grant?
A – You don’t. HMRC will contact you directly to claim this with information they already hold on file.
Q – What if they don’t have my email address?
A – If you are a client of ours, we have made sure to update your HMRC records with your current email address. For those who don’t use email, HMRC will contact you by another method.
Q – Do I have to do my 2020 books to get it?
A – No. The grant will be based on 2019/2018/2017 accounts, which have already been submitted to HMRC.
Q – If I started after April 2019, what can I claim?
A – Unfortunately, you can only apply for Universal Credit. The Self Employed Grant scheme only applies to those in self employment before April 2019 and who had income of more than 50% from self employment.
Q – If I take another job just now, will I still receive the grant?
A – Nowhere in the HMRC guidance does it say you won’t receive the grant, if you take other employment in the meantime.
Q – Should I still apply for Universal Credits?
A – Yes. HMRC have encouraged those who are self employed to still apply for Universal Credit , while we wait for the grant scheme to open.
Q – Do I have to pay the grant back?
A – No. You won’t have to pay it back, but it will count as taxable earnings in your next set of accounts.
Q – Do you know when the Business Rates Grant will be paid?
A – Unfortunately not no. Your local council is dealing with the Business Rates Grants directly, so we have no control over that one. We do know that several councils are starting to pay these out already.
This is the link to all official guidance from HMRC. I would ask that if you didn’t hear it from me, and it’s not on this link, it’s probably not true information.
I would also remind everyone, to be wary of emails/texts/phonecalls claiming to be from people ‘paying out grants/tax rebates’. There is alot of this fraud happening right now. If you are unsure if it is official HMRC contact, please forward it to us and we will check for you.