Self-employment Income Support Scheme

(asked on 6th July 2020) - View Source

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, for what reasons people classed as self-employed for the 2019-20 tax year only are ineligible for the Self-employment Income Support Scheme.


Answered by
Jesse Norman Portrait
Jesse Norman
This question was answered on 14th July 2020

In order to ensure that the Self-Employment Income Support Scheme (SEISS) is deliverable, only those who submitted a tax return for 2018-19 are eligible to apply.

This was a difficult decision and it was taken for practical reasons.

Although the self-employed can file returns for the 2019-20 tax year, if HMRC were to rely on these returns for the SEISS there would be an opportunity for fraudulent activity through returns where no trading activity has taken place, where trading profits have been inflated to increase the size of the grant, or where trading profits have been reduced to below the £50,000 threshold in order to become eligible.

Unfortunately, HMRC would not be able to distinguish genuine self-employed individuals who started trading in 2019-20 from fake applications by fraudulent operators and organised criminal gangs seeking to exploit the SEISS.

The newly self-employed may still be eligible for other elements of the unprecedented financial support provided by the Government. This package includes Bounce Back loans, tax deferrals, rental support,?increased levels of Universal Credit, mortgage holidays, and other business support grants.

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