Self Employed - Why won't the government consider 2019/20 income?

becky3343

I'm just wondering if anyone knows the reasoning as to why the government won't consider 2019/20 income for those who want to file their self assessment early? I started a business 2 years ago and for the first year as expected was at a loss so no income but 2019/20 saw a massive growth. Under the current rules, even though I was making an income last year, I'm not eligible for SEISS

scrooger

Unfortunately, that's probably a reason. To give less . 

whizzywoo

I think the main reason was to prevent fraud.  If 2019/20 tax returns had been included lots of people might have been tempted to inflate their figures to get a bigger grant.  

Also many people are not in a position to file their SA tax returns so quickly as they don't have the information ready or are waiting for their Accountants to do the work.  Goodness knows when I was in Accountancy it took all our time to get clients to give us the stuff in time to file the following January!  If all clients brought in their records early in April most Accountants would be overwhelmed either that or have a heart attack from the shock. 

scrooger

whizzywoo said:

I think the main reason was to prevent fraud.  If 2019/20 tax returns had been included lots of people might have been tempted to inflate their figures to get a bigger grant.  

You might be right. But, on the other hand, grants are based on profit, not turnover, so if you inflated your figures, you would need to pay higher tax anyway.

whizzywoo

scrooger said:

whizzywoo said:

I think the main reason was to prevent fraud.  If 2019/20 tax returns had been included lots of people might have been tempted to inflate their figures to get a bigger grant.  

You might be right. But, on the other hand, grants are based on profit, not turnover, so if you inflated your figures, you would need to pay higher tax anyway.

Yes but not everyone thinks that far ahead.

Percy1983

I wish they did as my profits are genuinely bigger in 19/20.

The bigger problem is many people won't be doing there 19/20 tax return until 31st January 2021 at the earliest.

So yes I would prefer my 19/20 figures but can see why they can't be included.