| answer text |
<p>The Government announced at Budget 2021 that the Self-Employment Income Support
Scheme (SEISS) will continue until September, with a fourth and a final fifth grant.</p><p>
</p><p>The Government also announced a major improvement in access to the self-employed
scheme. As the deadline for 2019-20 tax returns has now passed, HMRC will use these
tax returns for the fourth and fifth grants, provided they were submitted by 2 March.
This means that 600,000 people, many of whom became self-employed in 2019-20, may
now be able to claim the fourth and fifth grants, bringing the total number of people
who could be eligible to 3.7 million.</p><p> </p><p>Using these returns requires time
to deliver due to the increased population and new data. In order to allow HM Revenue
and Customs (HMRC) time to process 2019-20 tax returns it has not been possible to
invite applications or open the claims service earlier.</p><p> </p><p>HMRC will open
the online claims service for the fourth SEISS grant from late April 2021 and expect
to notify potentially eligible people of their personal claim date from mid-April.</p><p>
</p><p>Guidance on how to claim the fourth grant is now available online: <a href="https://www.gov.uk/guidance/claim-a-grant-through-the-coronavirus-covid-19-self-employment-income-support-scheme"
target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/guidance/claim-a-grant-through-the-coronavirus-covid-19-self-employment-income-support-scheme</a>.</p><p>The
SEISS is just one part of a wider package of support for the self-employed, which
includes automatic, self-serve time-to-pay arrangements, loans, welfare support, and
other business support grants.</p>
|
|
