Government unveils help for self-employed - MSE News

GavinWay1

Im so confused by all this but am i right i thinking that myself as a director of a small limited building company I'm not entitled to either of the schemes? If so this is absolutely dreadful, I'm trying to furlough my 4 employees to save them their jobs, I get paid a small PAYE section then i take dividends out of the business, so this means I'm only going to be entitled to universal credit? if so then this is a joke. Can someone please confirm?

Joyful

I went fully self employed a year ago. Before that I was employed and my business ran at a loss due to not much time to devote to it but expenses still to pay. I have this years accounts almost ready for submitting at the end of march. This shows my true income which is only a small private pension. Due to this, I am entitled to no help at all. When I went self employed I new that I needed to work on top of my pension to live. This has now been cut from me as my business is usually seeing people one to one. Is there any chance they will take the last 12 months into account only?

drjhb58

All of us self employed affected who are likely not to get any financial help- whether recently started up in business or without 3 years of accounts, or victims of the ridiculous £50000 average profit cap, while employees earning UNLIMITED amounts will still get £2500 per month- need to contact their MP and the chancellor directly to get the ridiculous anomalies sorted out ASAP. I urge you all to do this.

CruiserP

Hi there I'm a self employed builder/plasterer who fingers crossed will be eligible for the self employed grant... I am thinking of applying for a job as a delivery driver. Would this then change my status to employed and therefore jeopardise my chance of applying and getting the grant?? Thanks all!

Jeremy535897

CruiserP said:

Hi there I'm a self employed builder/plasterer who fingers crossed will be eligible for the self employed grant... I am thinking of applying for a job as a delivery driver. Would this then change my status to employed and therefore jeopardise my chance of applying and getting the grant?? Thanks all!

Please check other threads as this has been answered. It should not be a problem, so long as you meet the eligibility criteria. In particular please note items 2, 3 and 4:

"You can apply if you’re a self-employed individual or a member of a partnership and you:

• have submitted your Income Tax Self Assessment tax return for the tax year 2018-19
• traded in the tax year 2019-20
• are trading when you apply, or would be except for COVID-19
• intend to continue to trade in the tax year 2020-21
• have lost trading/partnership trading profits due to COVID-19"

Bradford1956

Regarding help for the self employed. It seems the rules state your income must be at least 50% from being self employed. I am totally self employed ( no PAYE element ) but on my self assessment returns my figures are split between " self employed " and "other income " which is purely from rental income which is part of my business. The " self employed " element is slightly less than 50 %, does anybody have an idea whether I would still be able to claim this new payment. Rather unfair if not as been totally self employed for years.

Jeremy535897

Rental income is most unlikely to qualify as self employment income, even if it has something to do with the business. To establish otherwise is a technical tax question that needs an expert to answer. I suspect you did not include the rent in your self employment figures on your tax return? You will have to establish whether you meet either of these tests:

"Your self-employed trading profits must also be less than £50,000 and more than half of your income come from self-employment. This is determined by at least one of the following conditions being true:

• having trading profits/partnership trading profits in 2018-19 of less than £50,000 and these profits constitute more than half of your total taxable income
• having average trading profits in 2016-17, 2017-18, and 2018-19 of less than £50,000 and these profits constitute more than half of your average taxable income in the same period

If you started trading between 2016-19, HMRC will only use those years for which you filed a Self-Assessment tax return."

Bradford1956

To Jeremy535897 Thanks, yes I included the rental income on my self assessment return but where it asked if you have any other income eg from property that would be where I would have put my rental income

benwhiti

Can someone please advise me , 
ive been self employed for 20+ years but I had a 2 year break where I went paye 18/19 I returned back self employed this February can you tell me if I can claim the self employment income which has just been released by the government. I will loose everything if I’m unable to cover my wages as I like most people I live week to week to cover my bills and living costs. The company which I sub-contract for shut down on Monday after the government advice  , which has left me with zero income . This is becoming a real issue for me as I’ve a family to support , my partner works full time so I’m not able to claim universal credit. Any advise would be amazing thanks in advance 

GrumpySteve

Anyone know what constitutes 'Income'. I am employed, self employed and am drawing a private pension. Does the pension count as 'income'. If it does then my self employment falls below 50% of my income and I don't qualify for anything from the self employment scheme.