shared lives carer

pedro123_2

Hi all, my wife is a shared lives carer and they receive extra tax relief due to the scheme. She is self employed and does complete tax returns. Will she qualify for the self employment grant ?

Jeremy535897

Read the guidance here:
https://www.gov.uk/guidance/claim-a-grant-through-the-coronavirus-covid-19-self-employment-income-support-scheme

pedro123_2

thanks for that Jeremy, but our confusion is that it states they will pay 80% of recorded PROFITS over the three years. As a shared lives carer, the way the tax allowance is calculated it makes so that your PROFIT comes out as zero on your tax return, which is pointless as the earnings barely go past the normal tax allowance but her PROFIT is still recorded as zero.
Any help would be much appreciated.
Thanks

Jeremy535897

I can see your problem. I've never come across this before. The issue here is the method of computing profit. With the £10,000 allowance plus £250 a week or part week, you end up with no taxable income. This means that you have nothing to base the grant on. I just want to check one thing. Are you saying that her gross carer income is covered by the allowances above, or does she use her personal allowance of £12,500 as well?

pedro123_2

Yes her gross income is covered by the way they compute the profit so her personal allowance is never used.
It appears to be a way of working out tax that doesn't particularly benefit her a great deal. They say its to make the tax return easier but i think its more complicated than a normal tax return, and most at the tax office have never heard of it so getting any help is frustrating. The same as getting any info at this troubled time is more frustrating.
I appreciate the replies, thanks 

onlyfoolsandparking

Is this Foster carer allowances? ie you get a £10000 lump sum allowance and then £200-250 per child (dependant on age) per week (or part of week) allowance + your personal allowance and therefore submit a 'NIL' tax return as I've not seen anything regarding this on SEISS and I'm not sure how HMRC can work it out. Hopefully someone will know as their are a lot of Foster carers out there and they are a credit to society.

pedro123_2

No its not foster care, its called shared lives carer(adult placement) they basically look after elderly and or vulnerable adults in OUR own home on a day by day basis. 
Yes the allowance is similar where there is a £10000 lump sum then more allowance based on how many days/people you have cared for. The profit on the tax return always comes in at zero as its not a well paid job and she never goes over the allowances.
In my opinion its got nothing to do with profit, the earnings she gets are clear as they are paid straight from the council and the rate is non negotiable, they issue her with a remittance for each payment.
I cant find any guidance on HMRC and as it stands now we fear that she will not get invited to apply for the self employed help scheme or she will get invited to apply and end up with 80% of zero because of the way they are wording it.
Any help on where to find guidance is much appreciated in advance thanks  

Jeremy535897

The way SEISS works, it doesn't help. If the carer's allowance was treated like a personal allowance, rather than a deduction from profits, that would be fairer.

pedro123_2

Totally agree I dont see any benefit of getting paid this way, she doesn't claim for anything its all incorporated into the the payment per person that the council set and non negotiable.
She can prove her income, thats what should be taken into consideration.

onlyfoolsandparking

I suppose the answer will be become clearer IF she gets the letter from HMRC in the first place and then submits all her info back to HMRC and they offer some sort of payment. I would imagine HMRC will get more than one enquiry like this and only they can decide whether eligible or not. 

onlyfoolsandparking

@OP did you find out any further info or gain any clarification on your situation, I only ask as I too am 'tax exempt' with a loss of earnings and I too believe I wont qualify even though I've submitted tax returns for 9 years. I guess we'll have to wait and see if we receive the letter from HMRC mid-may as I said previously?