Self-employment Income Support Scheme

(asked on 5th May 2020) - View Source

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the potential negative impact on graduates, and individuals who have been on sick leave or maternity leave, caused by the policy of offering self-employed individuals a grant through the Self-Employment Income Support Scheme based on the average monthly self-employed profit from the last three tax; and whether they will introduce special circumstances that allow individuals to discount these years when calculating average profits to better reflect their current position.


Answered by
 Portrait
Lord Agnew of Oulton
This question was answered on 20th May 2020

Claiming Maternity Allowance or taking parental/sickness leave does not mean that the trade has ceased and therefore should not affect a person’s eligibility for Self-Employment Income Support Scheme, as long as the individual intends to return to the trade after maternity/paternity/adoption leave.

Anyone who submitted a tax return in 2018/19, and meets the eligibility criteria, will be eligible for the SEISS. The Government recognises that some people may not have submitted a 2018/19 return for a range of reasons, including due to parental/sickness leave or entering the labour market as a new graduate.

The Chancellor has indicated that delivering a scheme for the self-employed is a very difficult operational challenge, particularly in the time available. It is not possible for HMRC to know the reasons why an individual’s profits may have dropped in earlier years from income tax self-assessment returns. However, to help those with volatile income in 2018/19, HMRC can determine an individual’s eligibility on either their profits in 2018-19, or on an average between 2016-17 to 2018-19.

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