Unusual SE situation re: grant eligibility

nicisaskinflint

My husband and I have been self employed since 2000. We are both 57yrs.
April 2019 we stopped working to go travelling (husband's degenerative eye condition prompted this) with no definitive end date for our travels, although obviously we have been unable to travel during the lockdown.
We had a partnership (my main source of income) which we stopped in March 2019 before we went travelling - this has not traded during 2019-2020 due to our travels. If we wanted to trade now we could not as the business would be prevented due to coronavirus. I also run two online businesses as a sole trader. This has traded during 2019-2020 but with tiny revenues (under £200). These continue to trade and are not affected by coronavirus.
My husband's main income was as a sole trader personal fitness trainer, but he only worked a few sessions (less than £100) between our travelling 2019-2020.
He cannot work now due to coronavirus.
Our sole income was from renting our house on airbnb which we have been unable to do since lockdown due to coronavirus.
So we have had no income whatsoever since lockdown.
The phrase "did you trade 2020 - 2021?" is unclear when I have three businesses - does it matter which ones traded and how much revenue they made? 
The phrase "do you intend to trade 2020-2021?" in the application guidelines for the government's SE grant is very difficult for us to answer due to our travel situation. If, once lockdown ends clients ask us to work between our travelling trips, we will take it and we will certainly be renting our house out on airbnb at the earliest opportunity, which is how we were paying for our travels.
I received an invitation to apply for the grant from HMRC, which I completed on the basis that one of my businesses traded and I may get some trade 2020-2021 although there is absoultely no guarantee of that.  I received the grant last week. 
My husband has not yet had an invitation which we do not understand. My question is, was I, and is my husband eligible to apply?
I have been unable to find any guidance on our somewhat unusual situation.
The last thing we need is to apply, get the money and when our tax return is submitted next year, for HMRC to demand the grant back saying we were not entitled to it!
Any advice would be most welcome! 

calcotti

Renting out a property on airbnb is not, to the best of my knowledge, a self employment business.

Icequeen1

nicisaskinflint said:

My husband and I have been self employed since 2000. We are both 57yrs.
April 2019 we stopped working to go travelling (husband's degenerative eye condition prompted this) with no definitive end date for our travels, although obviously we have been unable to travel during the lockdown.
We had a partnership (my main source of income) which we stopped in March 2019 before we went travelling - this has not traded during 2019-2020 due to our travels. If we wanted to trade now we could not as the business would be prevented due to coronavirus. I also run two online businesses as a sole trader. This has traded during 2019-2020 but with tiny revenues (under £200). These continue to trade and are not affected by coronavirus.
My husband's main income was as a sole trader personal fitness trainer, but he only worked a few sessions (less than £100) between our travelling 2019-2020.
He cannot work now due to coronavirus.
Our sole income was from renting our house on airbnb which we have been unable to do since lockdown due to coronavirus.
So we have had no income whatsoever since lockdown.
The phrase "did you trade 2020 - 2021?" is unclear when I have three businesses - does it matter which ones traded and how much revenue they made? 
The phrase "do you intend to trade 2020-2021?" in the application guidelines for the government's SE grant is very difficult for us to answer due to our travel situation. If, once lockdown ends clients ask us to work between our travelling trips, we will take it and we will certainly be renting our house out on airbnb at the earliest opportunity, which is how we were paying for our travels.
I received an invitation to apply for the grant from HMRC, which I completed on the basis that one of my businesses traded and I may get some trade 2020-2021 although there is absoultely no guarantee of that.  I received the grant last week. 
My husband has not yet had an invitation which we do not understand. My question is, was I, and is my husband eligible to apply?
I have been unable to find any guidance on our somewhat unusual situation.
The last thing we need is to apply, get the money and when our tax return is submitted next year, for HMRC to demand the grant back saying we were not entitled to it!
Any advice would be most welcome! 

Was your husband the other partner and what was that business? I suspect you will qualify, as technically you meet the conditions but the spirit of it was supposed to replace the self-employed income of those who have lost it now. You are not really in that position, but as a technicality you probably qualify because there is nothing in the conditions that say each one has to be met by the same trade. Renting our your house on air bnb is not trading - so if you take that out but the answer is still that you intend to trade in 2020-2021 then you will probably qualify. But as I say, probably not in the spirit of what the scheme was for but that's a separate issue. 

nicisaskinflint

Yes my husband was the other partner - but for tax purposes. That business was training consultant in the hospitality industry.

Jeremy535897

From what you say, it seems that you both had a reasonable amount of trading income in the period 2016/17 to 2018/19, and met the 50% tests and were under the £50,000 limit, either for 2018/19 on its own, or over the three years 2016/17 to 2018/19. You both traded (albeit at very small levels) in 2019/20. The test for 2020/21 is that you "intend to continue to trade", so I think there must be some evidence for this to validate a claim. It doesn't matter whether you have one business or many, and they can be partnerships or sole trades or both. You have to demonstrate that your business (or one of them) has been adversely affected by coronavirus. These tests apply to each of you and your husband separately. Remember that your letting income is not trading, and whether or not it has been adversely affected by coronavirus is irrelevant in determining eligibility for SEISS.

nicisaskinflint

Thank you Jeremy for this. What we don't know is how can we possibly prove intention to trade? Just because we might want some business, does not mean customers will be buying! Especially not those services of a personal fitness trainer or a hospitality trainer - both businesses that not only are likely to be firmly at the bottom of people's priority list but require close proximity to people. So difficult.

Icequeen1

nicisaskinflint said:

Thank you Jeremy for this. What we don't know is how can we possibly prove intention to trade? Just because we might want some business, does not mean customers will be buying! Especially not those services of a personal fitness trainer or a hospitality trainer - both businesses that not only are likely to be firmly at the bottom of people's priority list but require close proximity to people. So difficult.

If you are trading, you would be actively looking for new clients, adverts, facebook pages for your services etc.....if no-one took it up then that's fine. But if you don't intend to do any of those things to try and get some trade then you aren't really intending to trade. 

Jeremy535897

You must have lists of customers who you can remind that you will be open for business once you are allowed to be under lockdown rules? Just do what you need to do to get your business going again at the appropriate time. If you try your best but get only a small handful of customers, you have still demonstrated your intention to continue to trade.

calcotti

nicisaskinflint said:

Thank you Jeremy for this. What we don't know is how can we possibly prove intention to trade? 

That works both ways - it is also hard to disprove. So if it it is your stated intention and you do a few activities you would normally do to attract business (whatever that may be) that should be enough.

nicisaskinflint

Also, no-one has addressed why my husband has not received an invitation to apply. Does anyone have any idea why this might be? Is there a reason we are missing as to why they think he is not eligible to apply?

Jeremy535897

nicisaskinflint said:

Also, no-one has addressed why my husband has not received an invitation to apply. Does anyone have any idea why this might be? Is there a reason we are missing as to why they think he is not eligible to apply?

We don't have enough information to hazard a guess. The eligibility criteria and other information are here:
https://www.gov.uk/guidance/claim-a-grant-through-the-coronavirus-covid-19-self-employment-income-support-scheme