Self Employment Fourth Grant
As part of the 2021 Budget, the Chancellor announced there would be a fourth and fifth self employment grant available.
The fourth grant focuses on an adverse trading period covering February to April. It is based on the last four years of trading results from 2016.17 to 2019.20 (previous grants have only covered up to 2018.19). 80% of the average will be paid out.
For people who started self employment in the 2019.20 tax year, if eligible, their grant will be based on their 2019.20 tax return submitted.
HMRC has confirmed as of the 8th of March 2021 that anyone who is newly self employed (ie started self employment in the period 6th of April 2019 to 5th of April 2020) will receive letters and may also receive a phone call from HMRC. It is imperative that you have your contact number updated on HMRC’s website in case they do try and call you.
The reason for the communication from HMRC is that for the newly self employed, they require proof of identity and evidence of trade to be sent to HMRC to then be eligible to claim.
To see what documents are required from HMRC, please see the letter that HMRC have released which can be found here (shared via the ICAEW).
A reminder that your accountant can not apply for this grant so if you are newly self employed and want to apply for the fourth grant, you will need to ensure you have set up your own government gateway which can be done at online.hmrc.gov.uk