Self-employed workers can now check for their own personal SEISS grant application start date
Updated: Apr 13, 2021
Hundreds of thousands of self-employed workers can now check what day they can claim their fourth vital Self-Employment Income Support Scheme (SEISS) grant.
Using the online checker on the Government website, struggling workers can access details of the earliest day they can make a SEISS claim.
Once a claim has been made, HMRC will check the details and pay the grant into the claimant's bank account in the next 6 working days.
The fourth grant is calculated much like previous SEISS grants at 80% of 3 months’ average trading profits. It will be paid out in a single instalment and capped at £7,500 in total. How much a worker receives will depend on their average trading profits.
HMRC will work out your average trading profits using up to 4 years’ of submitted tax returns. This may affect the amount claimants get which could be higher or lower than previous grants.
HMRC will take into account trading profits from the 2016 to 2017, 2017 to 2018, 2018 to 2019 and 2019 to 2020 tax years. For those with a gap in the years they have traded, HMRC will only use the most recent returns after the gap to work out the grant.
Trading profits must be no more than £50,000 and at least equal to or more than the non-trading income.
Workers accessing the early information on their SEISS grant application date should however treat the data with a ‘tiny pinch of salt’ according to one well known consumer finance expert.
Some people trying to access the information have been provided with no details or were told they were ineligible for the forthcoming grant, despite believing they do qualify for SEISS support.
According to sources, which includes consumer finance expert Martin Lewis, the official link used by HMRC isn’t live until Monday 19 April and the data currently being accessed may NOT be fully available on the website.
On Monday, Martin Lewis said via social media: “Many are logging in to https://tax.service.gov.uk/self-employment-support/enter-unique-taxpayer-reference… to find and are getting their SEISS 4 grant date.
“However a note, officially HMRC that link isn't live for SEISS 4 until next Monday as it doesn't have full data in.
“So I'd treat with a tiny pinch of salt.”
Following up on the Tweet on Tuesday, Lewis added: “If you use this link and it gives you your earliest application date - that IS your earliest application date.
“However if you don't get a date, that could be because it's not officially live until next Monday, so not all the data is in.”
Self-employed workers, which includes the vast majority of taxi drivers, will be also able to claim a fifth and final SEISS grant. This final grant will provide support between May and September with the value of the grant based on the claimant's turnover. Despite the support running for a total of five months, only three months of trading profit support will be offered.
The value of the fifth grant will be determined by a turnover test, to ensure that support is targeted at those who need it the most as the economy reopens.
People whose turnover has fallen by 30% or more will continue to receive the full grant worth 80% of three months’ average trading profits, capped at £7,500. People whose turnover has fallen by less than 30% will receive a 30% grant, capped at £2,850.
The fifth and final grant can be claimed from late July. Further details will be published in due course by HM Treasury and HMRC.
