The UK Government will support self-employed individuals (including members of partnerships) whose income has been negatively impacted by COVID-19. The HMRC is contacting individuals who may be eligible - please do not contact Business Gateway Fife or HMRC as they will be unable you provide any further information The HMRC has set up an online checking tool to allow you to see if you may be eligibleCHECK YOUR ELIGIBILITY NOW 

Am I eligible?

To be eligible for the scheme you must meet all of  the criteria below:

  • Be self-employed or a member of partnership
  • Have lost trading/partnership trading profits due to COVID-19
  • File a tax return for 2018-19 as self-employed or a member of a trading partnership. Those who have not yet filed for 2018-19 will have an additional 4 weeks from this announcement to do so
  • Have traded in 2019-20; be currently trading at the point of application (or would be except for COVID 19) and intend to continue to trade in the tax year 2020 to 2021
  • Have trading profits of less than £50,000 and more than half of your total income come from self-employment. This can be with reference to at least one of the following conditions:
    • Your trading profits and total income in 2018/19

What can I claim?  

  • The scheme will provide a grant to self-employed individuals or partnerships, worth 80% of their profits up to a cap of £2,500 per month
  • HMRC will use the average profits from tax returns in 2016-17, 2017-18 and 2018-19 to calculate the size of the grant
  • The scheme will be open to those where the majority of their income comes from self-employment and who have profits of less than £50,000
  • The scheme will be open for an initial three months with people able to make their first claim by the beginning of June

How to apply for a grant

  • Individuals should not contact HMRC now. HMRC will use existing information to check potential eligibility and invite applications once the scheme is operational. HMRC will then pay the grant directly to eligible claimants’ bank account.
  • HMRC is urgently working to deliver the scheme. Grants are expected to start to be paid out by beginning of June 2020. For eligible individuals who have not submitted their Income Tax Self-Assessment tax return for 2018-19, they must do so by 23 April 2020 to file their returns and therefore become eligible for this scheme
  • Note: When invited to apply, you will access this scheme only through the GOV.UK. If someone texts, calls or emails claiming to be from HMRC, saying that you can claim financial help or are owed a tax refund, and asks you to click on a link or to give information such as your name, credit card or bank details, it is a scam.