The COVID-19 crisis is having far-reaching financial effects on individuals and companies alike in the UK and around the world. The Low Income Tax Reform Group (LITRG) says that self-employed individuals who have yet to submit their 2018/19 self-assessment tax return have until 23 April 2020, else they will risk missing out on potential government financial support during the COVID-19 outbreak.
In this article:
The Self-employed Income Support Scheme (SEISS)
How to register with the HMRC?
The Self-employed Income Support Scheme (SEISS)
The government recently announced the Self-employed Income Support Scheme (SEISS), which offers grants to those who are self-employed who have lost incomes as a result of the COVID-19 outbreak. The starting point for determining how people qualify for the scheme is the percentage of their self-employment earnings reported on their tax return for 2018/19. For those who were self-employed in 2018/19 but still need to register with HMRC, the closeness of the deadline of April 23, 2020 means they should register immediately for self-assessment.
How to Register with the HMRC?
If you think you’re going to be eligible for the SEISS but you’re going to need to get a tax return filed you’ll need to do that in the coming weeks. If you are already registered to file your tax returns using online HMRC services, this will be a quicker process. If you are not registered yet, we suggest you register now as it will take around two weeks to obtain your login details. The LITRG has released online guidance to help people understand the support scheme and what they are eligible for, and also to assist with self-employed tax returns and accounts. Due to the COVID-19 outbreak, there could be delays in HMRC answering calls and coping with the post. Instead of calling HMRC or sending the registration by post, registration should be done online.