HMRC has issued guidance on how SEISS is meant to work from 13 May onwards, which is available at: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/claim-a-grant-through-the-coronavirus-covid-19-self-employment-income-support-scheme#claim
It is worth taking a look at the guidance to take comfort that you will be able to qualify, however, the following summary might help you in the interim.
You can claim if you are a self-employed individual or a member of a partnership, and you:
- Have submitted your Self-Assessment tax return for the tax year 2018 to 2019
- Traded in the tax year 2019 to 2020
- Are trading when you apply, or would be except for Coronavirus
- Intend to continue to trade in the tax year 2020 to 2021
- Have lost trading profits due to Coronavirus
- You can check if you are eligible to make a claim by using the HMRC online tool. If you are a Champion client we can help you using this online facility.
If you want to use this tool yourself you will need your Self-Assessment UTR number and National Insurance Number.
HMRC will confirm if you are eligible and they will also confirm the date on which you will be able to make your claim, and they will ask you to add your contact details so that they can remind you that the new service is available.
HMRC has confirmed that you must make the claim yourself. Your Tax Agent cannot make the claim on your behalf.
To make your claim on or after the date confirmed by HMRC, you will need:
- Self-Assessment UTR and your National Insurance number
- You will need to use the Government Gateway. If you haven’t done this before we have prepared a step by step guide on how to register yourself and gain the user ID and password that you need when you make our claim online
- You should have the bank account number and sort code details of the account to which you want the grant payment to be BACS
If you are a Champion client, even though we cannot make the claim for you, we are happy to assist you.