Originally written by Timothy Adler on Small Business
Rishi Sunak is set to announce a fourth and final round of the £7,500 grant for the self-employed in next week’s Budget.
As before, certain self-employed will be able to claim a Self-Employment Income Support Scheme (SEIISS) grant worth up to £7,500 over three months covering February, March and April.
However, if true, next week’s announcement again ignores the over a million people who have been excluded from self-employed grants because either they have a parallel source of income or they pay themselves in dividends or they earn over £50,000 a year.
Last month, influential thinktank the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) said the Government should act to help self-employed excluded from Covid support because more than 50 pe cent of their income came from elsewhere, an exclusion which disproportionately attacked women on modest incomes.
>See also: Government must help self-employed excluded due to 50% income rule
Meanwhile, business groups have written to Mr Sunak urging him to help the nearly 800,000 company directors frozen out of emergency Covid-19 support, which they saw as a stealth attack by HMRC because company directors pay corporation tax at the lower 19 per cent rate.
However, according to the Telegraph, the grant
Tag Archive for Self-Employed Income Support Scheme
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Self-employed to be offered fourth and final £7,500 grant in Budget
by Timothy Adler • • 0 Comments
Originally written by Timothy Adler on Small Business
Rishi Sunak is set to announce a fourth and final round of the £7,500 grant for the self-employed in next week’s Budget.
As before, certain self-employed will be able to claim a Self-Employment Income Support Scheme (SEIISS) grant worth up to £7,500 over three months covering February, March and April.
However, if true, next week’s announcement again ignores the over a million people who have been excluded from self-employed grants because either they have a parallel source of income or they pay themselves in dividends or they earn over £50,000 a year.
Last month, influential thinktank the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) said the Government should act to help self-employed excluded from Covid support because more than 50 pe cent of their income came from elsewhere, an exclusion which disproportionately attacked women on modest incomes.
>See also: Government must help self-employed excluded due to 50% income rule
Meanwhile, business groups have written to Mr Sunak urging him to help the nearly 800,000 company directors frozen out of emergency Covid-19 support, which they saw as a stealth attack by HMRC because company directors pay corporation tax at the lower 19 per cent rate.
However, according to the Telegraph, the grant
Hot Business News Today
Government must help self-employed excluded due to 50% income rule
by Timothy Adler • • 0 Comments
Originally written by Timothy Adler on Small Business
The government should act to help self-employed excluded from Covid support because more than 50% of their income comes from elsewhere.
This deliberate exclusion is unfair and disproportionately attacks women on modest incomes, says the influential Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS).
This is the second time the IFS has waded into the argument about the self-employed in as many days. Yesterday, the IFS published a report calling for the self-employed to pay more tax.
>See also: You should file your tax return by January 31, despite HMRC extension
Over a million self-employed people who have less than 50% of their income coming from self-employment have been excluded from the Self-Employment Income Support Scheme (SEISS).
The IFS says that it is manifestly unfair that someone who declares profits of 51 per cent from self-employed income can claim the maximum, while those who claim 49 per cent of profits get nothing.
SEISS provides payments once per quarter worth 80 per cent of pre-pandemic profits up to a cap of £7,500 (per quarter) for eligible self-employed workers who have been adversely affected by the pandemic.
The scheme is expected to have cost £28bn by April 2021, making emergency Covid payments to at least
Hot Business News Today
Government must help self-employed excluded due to 50% income rule
by Timothy Adler • • 0 Comments
Originally written by Timothy Adler on Small Business
The government should act to help self-employed excluded from Covid support because more than 50% of their income comes from elsewhere.
This deliberate exclusion is unfair and disproportionately attacks women on modest incomes, says the influential Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS).
This is the second time the IFS has waded into the argument about the self-employed in as many days. Yesterday, the IFS published a report calling for the self-employed to pay more tax.
>See also: You should file your tax return by January 31, despite HMRC extension
Over a million self-employed people who have less than 50% of their income coming from self-employment have been excluded from the Self-Employment Income Support Scheme (SEISS).
The IFS says that it is manifestly unfair that someone who declares profits of 51 per cent from self-employed income can claim the maximum, while those who claim 49 per cent of profits get nothing.
SEISS provides payments once per quarter worth 80 per cent of pre-pandemic profits up to a cap of £7,500 (per quarter) for eligible self-employed workers who have been adversely affected by the pandemic.
The scheme is expected to have cost £28bn by April 2021, making emergency Covid payments to at least
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MPs give taxman six weeks to sort out Covid payments for freelancers
by Timothy Adler • • 0 Comments
Originally written by Timothy Adler on Small Business
MPs have given HMRC six weeks to come up with solutions for freelancers and others excluded from receiving Covid financial support.
In its report, the influential Public Accounts Committee has asked the taxman to explain why 1.6m freelancers alone have been excluded from Covid help, let alone the 3m excluded overall.
MPs blamed “quirks in the tax system” making groups of workers, including freelancers and the self-employed, ineligible for furlough payments.
>See also: Thousands of self-employed mothers miss out on COVID-19 SEISS payments
Meg Hillier MP, chair of the PAC, said: “As public spending balloons to unprecedented levels in response to the pandemic, out-of-date tax systems are one of the barriers to getting help to a significant of struggling taxpayers who should be entitled to support.”
The PAC MPs are just one group calling for the chancellor to give financial support to freelancers excluded from Covid support.
Meanwhile, former Brexit secretary David Davis has written to chancellor Rishi Sunak asking him to ensure that the newly self-employed are included in the final found of Self-Employment Income Support Scheme (SEISS) grants.
This could see more than half a million freelancers qualifying for emergency Covid financial support after all. This is because
Hot Business News Today
MPs give taxman six weeks to sort out Covid payments for freelancers
by Timothy Adler • • 0 Comments
Originally written by Timothy Adler on Small Business
MPs have given HMRC six weeks to come up with solutions for freelancers and others excluded from receiving Covid financial support.
In its report, the influential Public Accounts Committee has asked the taxman to explain why 1.6m freelancers alone have been excluded from Covid help, let alone the 3m excluded overall.
MPs blamed “quirks in the tax system” making groups of workers, including freelancers and the self-employed, ineligible for furlough payments.
>See also: Thousands of self-employed mothers miss out on COVID-19 SEISS payments
Meg Hillier MP, chair of the PAC, said: “As public spending balloons to unprecedented levels in response to the pandemic, out-of-date tax systems are one of the barriers to getting help to a significant of struggling taxpayers who should be entitled to support.”
The PAC MPs are just one group calling for the chancellor to give financial support to freelancers excluded from Covid support.
Meanwhile, former Brexit secretary David Davis has written to chancellor Rishi Sunak asking him to ensure that the newly self-employed are included in the final found of Self-Employment Income Support Scheme (SEISS) grants.
This could see more than half a million freelancers qualifying for emergency Covid financial support after all. This is because
Hot Business News Today
Taxman gives self-employed more time to file your tax return
by Timothy Adler • • 0 Comments
Originally written by Timothy Adler on Small Business
HMRC is giving the self-employed more time to file their tax return if they give Covid as an excuse for late filing.
This year, almost 12m self-employed people, those with second forms of income and landlords are due to file a personal tax return by the end of January.
Almost 5.5m of those 12m self-assessment taxpayers are yet to submit returns, with weeks to go before the deadline.
>See also: Prospect union calls for emergency help for excluded self-employed
However, the taxman is developing a simplified “Covid excuse” form that will allow the self-employed to miss the January 31 deadline for filing and paying tax.
It will allow those who say they have a reason for late filing due to the pandemic to avoid stiff penalties, with the Sunday Times quoting sources that HMRC is planning a “very lenient” attitude.
The decision will be a boost for millions of self-employed people who put money aside to pay income tax at the end of the year but have had to use their savings to stay afloat.
Freelancers’ incomes fell 30 per cent to record lows last year, according to the freelancer body IPSE. One in five self-employed people will have to
Hot Business News Today
Taxman gives self-employed more time to file your tax return
by Timothy Adler • • 0 Comments
Originally written by Timothy Adler on Small Business
HMRC is giving the self-employed more time to file their tax return if they give Covid as an excuse for late filing.
This year, almost 12m self-employed people, those with second forms of income and landlords are due to file a personal tax return by the end of January.
Almost 5.5m of those 12m self-assessment taxpayers are yet to submit returns, with weeks to go before the deadline.
>See also: Prospect union calls for emergency help for excluded self-employed
However, the taxman is developing a simplified “Covid excuse” form that will allow the self-employed to miss the January 31 deadline for filing and paying tax.
It will allow those who say they have a reason for late filing due to the pandemic to avoid stiff penalties, with the Sunday Times quoting sources that HMRC is planning a “very lenient” attitude.
The decision will be a boost for millions of self-employed people who put money aside to pay income tax at the end of the year but have had to use their savings to stay afloat.
Freelancers’ incomes fell 30 per cent to record lows last year, according to the freelancer body IPSE. One in five self-employed people will have to
Hot Business News Today
Prospect union calls for emergency help for excluded self-employed
by Timothy Adler • • 0 Comments
Originally written by Timothy Adler on Small Business
The Prospect union, recognising the plight of the 3m self-employed excluded from government Covid support, has devised an emergency plan.
Its Self-Employment Stabilisation Scheme (SESS) would bolt onto the existing Self Employment Income Support Scheme (SEISS) and offer help for the millions of Britons who have fallen through the cracks in government support, through no fault of their own.
Reasons for exclusion include being a company director or not having three years’ worth of accounts to submit to HMRC.
>See also: Liverpool launches £9.5m grant fund for ‘excluded’ self-employed
Prospect general secretary Mike Clancy called the Treasury’s treatment of the 3m excluded self-employed “disgraceful”, given how the government has encouraged self-employment and entrepreneurialism in the past.
The SESS would close existing gaps in the SEISS scheme and would introduce sectoral funds in areas with large freelance workforces, such as the creative industries.
In particular, the SESS proposes:
Allowing those who submit tax returns in January 2021 to access the fourth round of SEISS
A Freelancers Fund to support employers in sectors with large freelance workforces (such as creative industries) to take on freelance workers
Allow those who earn less than half their income through self-employment or earn more than £50,000 per annum
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Liverpool launches £9.5m grant fund for ‘excluded’ self-employed
by Timothy Adler • • 0 Comments
Originally written by Timothy Adler on Small Business
Liverpool has launched a £9.5m grant fund to specifically help the self-employed in hospitality and leisure excluded from government Covid support.
This includes support for the self-employed, sole traders or the home-based and their supply chains.
The Liverpool self-employed grant fund is the first in England specifically aimed at the “excluded and forgotten” from national support schemes such as the Self-Employment Income Support Scheme.
Businesses based in Halton, Knowsley, Liverpool, Sefton, St Helens and Wirral are eligible for support from the new £9.5m fund.
Last week, Liverpool mayor Steve Rotheram wrote to chancellor Rishi Sunak alongside London mayor Sadiq Khan and Manchester mayor Andy Burnham urging him to do something for the 3m self-employed who have found themselves excluded from national support.
It is estimated that there are 3m self-employed excluded from government Covid-19 business support.
Forgotten Limited, the pressure group for small limited company directors affected by the pandemic, said that 70 per cent of its members had not received any government support since the onset of the pandemic in March. Even if they make it to Christmas, 93 per cent doubted their small limited companies would still be trading by Easter.
Mr Rotheram said: “This latest round of