Help Available for Self Employed

New self-employed support scheme, headline points:

– Pays 80% of average profits over the last 3 years;
– Up to £2,500 per month for AT LEAST 3 months;
– For those with average profits of £50k or less per year;
– Will not be available until June at the earliest;
– HMRC will write to you if you are eligible;
– The scheme is open to those with a trading profit of less than £50k in 2018-
19 or an average trading profit of less than £50k from 2016-17, 2017-18
and 2018-19
– To qualify, more than half of their income in these periods must come from
self-employment.
– To minimise fraud, only those who are already in self-employment and
meet the above conditions will be eligible to apply. HMRC will identify
eligible taxpayers and contact them directly with guidance on how to apply.

The income support scheme, which is being designed by HMRC from scratch, will cover the three months to May. Grants will be paid in a single lump-sum instalment covering all 3 months and will start to be paid at the beginning of June.

Individuals should not contact HMRC now. HMRC will use existing information to check potential eligibility and invite applications once the scheme is operational.

Those who pay themselves a salary and dividends through their own company are not covered by the scheme but will be covered for their salary by the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme if they are operating PAYE schemes.