A chunk of time has passed since the self-employed income support scheme (SEISS) was launched in May 2020, following the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The first taxable grant, worth up to £7,500 in total, was paid out in August 2020. That was followed by a second grant of up to a total of £6,570 and a third grant, worth up to £7,500 in total.
Many self-employed individuals or business partners who met the SEISS’s eligibility criteria could have claimed up to £21,570 in total from these grants claimed during 2020/21.
What’s that got to do with your next personal tax return, you might wonder? Quite a lot, actually, as any of the three emergency support grants you received via the SEISS between 6 April 2020 and 5 April 2021 are taxable.
The time will shortly be upon us to report all of your taxable income from the 2020/21 tax year, prior to the next self-assessment deadline for online tax returns due on or before midnight on 31 January 2022.
For many self-employed individuals, a large portion of their taxable income for 2020/21 will have come via the SEISS grants, because many businesses were forced to close due to lockdown restrictions, or simply struggled to do business.
As ever, having records of your income and expenses relating to the previous tax year is vital when it comes to filing your tax return, and that includes any records of the three SEISS grants this time around.
>> Download our 2020/21 Income Tax Returns and the SEISS Guide
Disclaimer
The views expressed in this article are the personal views of the Author and other professionals may express different views. They may not be the views of Lambert Chapman LLP. The material in the article cannot and should not be considered as exhaustive. Professional advice should be sought in connection with any of the issues contained in the article and the implementation of any actions.