If you’re self-employed or a member of a partnership and have been adversely affected by Corona virus if you want to claim the first SEISS grant you must make your claim by Monday 13 July after having checked your eligibility.

if you’re a limited company or operating a trade through a trust, you should not claim the grant.

You are  eligible if:

• you traded in the tax year 2018 to 2019 and submitted your Self Assessment tax return on or before 23 April 2020 for that year
• you traded in the tax year 2019 to 2020
• you intend to continue to trade in the tax year 2020 to 2021
• you carry on a trade which has been adversely affected by coronavirus

You must have adversely affected on or before 13 July 2020 and must confirm to HMRC that your business has been adversely affected by coronavirus after that date. 

HMRC gives examples of an adverse effect  such as:

• you’re unable to work because you:
  • are shielding
  • are self-isolating
  • are on sick leave because of coronavirus
  • have caring responsibilities because of coronavirus
• you’ve had to scale down, temporarily stop trading or incurred additional costs because:
  • your supply chain has been interrupted
  • you have fewer or no customers or clients
  • your staff are unable to come in to work
  • one or more of your contracts have been cancelled
  • you had to buy protective equipment so you could trade following social distancing rules

HMRC reassures that “If your business recovers after you’ve claimed, your eligibility will not be affected”, and explains also that:

• The SEISS grants do not relate to any particular periods or seek to replace lost income over a particular period.
• SEISS is not intended to provide a month-by-month replacement of income.
• SEISS provides a lump sum payment to support eligible self-employed individuals whose businesses have been adversely affected by coronavirus. The sum is calculated by reference to three months’ average trading profits.
• Individuals can receive the full grant under the SEISS while continuing to work as long as their businesses have been adversely affected at the date of claim.

There is to remember finally that the SEISS grant does not need to be repaid but will be subject to Income Tax and self-employed National Insurance.