© Provided by The iChancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak will announce details about the forth SEISS in today's Budget (Photo: TOLGA AKMEN/AFP via Getty Images)
The Chancellor Rishi Sunak announced further details of the next steps in the self-employment income support scheme (SEISS) in his 2021 Budget.
The grant allows self-employed people whose business and income had been affected by the pandemic to claim money from the Government.
There have been three payments already and Mr Sunak unveiled more information about the fourth during his announcement - but how can workers apply and who is eligible? Here's what we know.
How can an eligible claimant apply?
A fourth SEISS grant will be available to claim through the government's website from April and will cover February, March and April.
Workers who meet the criteria can claim 80 per cent of average monthly profits capped at £2,500.
The Chancellor also confirmed that there will be a fifth payment, which will open to claims from late July and cover the period from May until July.
Mr Sunak indicated that the support would be scaled back slightly for the this installment, with the full 80 per cent grant given to people whose turnover has fallen by 30 per cent or more.
He told MPs: "People whose turnover has fallen by less than 30 per cent will therefore have less need of taxpayer support and will receive a 30 per cent grant."
To apply, you will need your:
- Self Assessment Unique Taxpayer Reference (UTR)
- National Insurance number
- Government Gateway user ID and password
- UK bank details including account number, sort code, name on the account and address linked to the account
- Only provide bank account details where a Bacs payment can be accepted
You may also need to answer questions about your passport, driving licence or information held on your credit file.
You must make the claim yourself. A tax agent or adviser cannot claim on your behalf as this will trigger a fraud alert, which will delay your payment.
Who can claim?
You must be a self-employed individual or a member of a partnership. You cannot claim the grant if you trade through a limited company or a trust.
Those who made a claim for the third grant must have seen their business have a new or continuing impact from coronavirus between 1 November 2020 and 29 January 2021, which they must have reasonably believed would cause a significant reduction to your profits.
You also had to declare that you would continue to trade, or that you were previously trading but are no longer able due to the pandemic.
To be eligible for the previous three grants, self-employed workers had to have traded in both 2018 to 2019 and 2019 to 2020.
For the fourth grant, there will now be an extra 600,000 newly self-employed people who may be eligible to claim Government support, Mr Sunak confirmed.
The Chancellor said: "When the scheme was launched, the newly self-employed couldn't qualify because they hadn't all filed a 2019/20 tax return.
"But as the tax return deadline has now passed, I can announce today that, provided they filed a tax return by midnight last night, over 600,000 more people, many of whom only became self-employed last year, can now claim the fourth and fifth grants."
This is because the Government is now allowing workers to submit their 2019-2020 and 2020-2021 self-assessment tax returns as evidence of their earnings.
Applicants must also be able to prove that they plan to continue trading, or providing a service, beyond the end of the support, which is expected to end in April.