Latest Support Available During Covid-19

Following on from my previous update this article is to set out the main measures now announced by the Government (including those announced yesterday by the Chancellor) to help support businesses, employees and the self-employed deal with the impact of Covid-19.

The new measure announced yesterday by the Chancellor focussed on the self-employed as follows:

Self-Employed Income Support Scheme - this scheme will support self-employed individuals (including members of partnerships) who have lost income due to coronavirus (COVID-19).

• This scheme will allow you to claim a taxable grant worth 80% of your trading profits up to a maximum of ￡2,500 per month for the 3 month period from 1 March 2020 to 31 May 2020. This may be extended if needed.
• The amount that you are eligible to receive will be based on the average of your taxable profits in the 3 years ending 5 April 2019.
• Anyone that became self-employed since 6 April 2019 is not eligible for this support scheme and should continue to look to other measures like Universal Credit (see below).
• HMRC will contact you if you are eligible for the scheme and invite you to apply online. Individuals do not need to contact HMRC now and doing so will only delay the urgent work being undertaken to introduce the scheme.
• If anyone has not yet submitted their 2019 Tax Return then you have until 23 April to do so in order to be included within this support scheme.

Further details on this scheme can be found by clicking here

The Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme - more details have now been announced in connection with this measure with the main points being:

• The scheme is open to all UK employers that had created and started a PAYE payroll scheme on or before 28 February 2020 and have a UK bank account.
• Any furloughed employees must have been on your PAYE payroll on 28 February 2020 so this scheme does not cover any employees that have been hired since that date.
• If an employee is doing any work for their employer then they cannot be furloughed.
• For employees whose pay varies the employer can claim the higher of (i) the same month's earnings from the previous year or (ii) the average monthly earnings in the 2019/20 tax year.
• To be eligible for the subsidy you should write to your employees confirming that they have been furloughed and keep a record of this communication. We have uploaded an example furlough agreement to our website which can be found by clicking here. Please make sure that you take independent legal or HR advice in this area to ensure that you tailor the example agreement to your meet your own specific circumstances.

More details on the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme can be found by clicking here

A reminder of the measures that have previously been announced are:

• Deferral of VAT Payments from 20 March 2020 to 30 June 2020 - this deferral is automatic and you do not need to apply to take advantage of this. You will be given until the end of the 2020 to 2021 tax year to pay the VAT liabilities that you have deferred.
• Deferral of Income Tax Payments due on 31 July 2020 to 31 January 2021 - this deferral is also automatic and you do not need to apply to HMRC to take advantage of it.
• Self-Employed are now able to make a claim for Universal Credit and if you are self-employed and eligible for Universal Credit then you may also be able to claim other benefits such as housing benefit to help with costs such as rent - some links to find out more about the support available for you if you are self-employed are below.

Universal Credit - more information can be found by clicking here

What You May Get - more details of what you can get and eligibility can be found here

• A grant of ￡10,000 to any business that is currently benefiting from the small business rates relief or rural rates relief. These businesses will be contacted by their local authority - you do not need to apply.
• A ￡25,000 grant will be provided to retail, hospitality and leisure businesses operating from premises with a rateable value between ￡15,000 and ￡51,000.
• The government is introducing a business rates holiday for retail, hospitality and leisure businesses in England for the 2020 to 2021 tax year.

NEW - the above business rates holiday has now been extended to include nurseries, estate agents, letting agents and bingo halls

NEW - more details have now been released on the above business rates grants support and this can be found by clicking here

• A dedicated helpline has been set up to help businesses and self-employed individuals in financial distress and with outstanding tax liabilities receive support with their tax affairs. Through this, businesses may be able to agree a bespoke Time to Pay arrangement, if you are concerned about being able to pay your tax due to Covid-19 please get in touch with me.
• A Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme, delivered by the British Business Bank, will enable businesses to apply for a loan of up to ￡5 million. Businesses can access the first 12 months of that finance interest-free (increased from the initial 6 months previously announced), as the government will cover the first 12 months of interest payments. More information is available via the British Business Bank website by clicking here.
• For businesses with fewer than 250 employees, the cost of providing 14 days of Statutory Sick Pay (due to Coronavirus) per employee will be refunded by the government in full. Full details of how to make this claim have not yet been released.

As you know to make it easier for you to keep up-to-date with all of the announcements we've created a resource page on our website with links to all of the above information which we'll be updating on a regular basis. If you come across anything that you think would be beneficial for us to add to the resource page please just let us know. Link to the page is below, I'd suggest that you add it to your favourites to make it easier for you to be able to come back to as things change in the coming days and weeks.

Budget & Coronavirus Resources

We are in uncertain times so if you need anything at any time please let us know, if you'd prefer to book a call with me then please use the link below to do so

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Best Wishes

Alan