Self-Employed Government Grants of up to £7,500 to arrive in under 3 weeks
When the government finally announced that they were going to be launching a scheme the supported self-employed workers it was a big relief for a lot of the UK, but the question that everybody was wondering was when will when they get this money paid into their accounts?
Well it seems good news has finally arrived!
HMRC are planning to start contacting tax-payers who are eligible for the Self-Employment Income Support Scheme (SEISS) this week, with the claims service opening on Wednesday 13th May.
If you’re a self-employed worker and you want to check if you’re eligible for the grant, you can do this via the free online tool which is available when you log into your account via the government gateway portal.
Then, once you’ve made your claim payments will be made into your bank account by 25th of May or within six working days of completing the claim.
They will be contacting workers by email, text message or letter, depending on the preference settings in your account. But before you hand over any details, you should make sure that the contact is really from HMRC.
This is because the anti-fraud arm of the Met Police – Action Fraud, has issued a warning after they received a number of complaints about phishing scammers posting as government bodies such as HRMC and GOV.UK in a big to try and trick people into handing over their personal details.
What is the Self-Employment Income Support Scheme?
SEISS was setup after the government has announced their furlough scheme for PAYE employees, with the aim of helping over 3.5 million self-employed workers in the UK.
The scheme will see the government cover up to 80% of self-employed workers’ average profits, up to £2,500 per month, if their income has dropped due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Your claim can be backdated to cover March, April and May, meaning you can claim up to £7,500.
To be eligible for the financial help, self-employed workers must have traded in the 2019 to 2020 tax year, with the intention of continuing to trade. HMRC will also be using the information that customers have provided in their 2018 to 2019 tax returns – as well as the returns for 2016 to 2017 and 2017 to 2018 if required – to work out who is eligible.
