Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps he will take in cases where a person has successfully claimed through the Self-Employment Income Support Scheme but then does not continue to trade after their grant has been awarded.

HMRC published for technical consultation draft legislation on the taxation of coronavirus support payments on Friday 29 May 2020. The technical consultation will run for a period of two weeks, closing on 12 June 2020.

The provisions provide HMRC with compliance and enforcement powers in relation to the schemes administered by HMRC. These include powers to check and recover any amount of a grant payment that the recipient is not entitled to. In cases where HMRC can demonstrate there has been deliberate non-compliance they will have the power to issue a penalty.

The technical consultation can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/draft-legislation-taxation-of-coronavirus-covid-19-support-payments.