SEISS Grant Questions

nathandelabrum_2

Good morning one and all. Hope I’m posting in the correct place, apologies if not!

I run my own window cleaning business and I took 7 weeks off work during the lockdown. Hence, I claimed the first SEISS grant. I’ve put a fair chunk of my grant back into my business; I’ve upgraded my system to a more modern, pure water system and I’ve bought myself a better van. 

As of this week I’ve started using my new system, and the business will undoubtedly become more profitable as a result, it’s much quicker and more efficient than the old squeegee and ladder methods. 

However, I have still lost a chunk of my turnover. About 10% of my turnover comes from cleaning business premises and almost all of them are currently shut, so I’m not cleaning the windows. I’ve lost a few residential customers during the pandemic as well. So my question is, and I understand this may come down to a moral issue, can I/should I claim the second SEISS grant? I’ve lost some of my turnover, but I may make that back up from upgrading to the new system. So I could end up reporting higher profits this year, but I would have reported even higher profits if I was carrying out work for the businesses I clean for. I just want everything to be above board if I claim the grant and HMRC start asking questions.

Many thanks in advance!

Jeremy535897

If there had been no coronavirus and you had used profits and/or borrowings to upgrade your equipment, you would have made even more profit. There will be people who gain more from the grant than they lose due to coronavirus, but that is not a reason to deny the grant. At the moment we don't have all the details for the new grant, but more detail is due on 12 June.

nathandelabrum_2

That was my thinking as well. And ultimately, I’m going to end up paying them back and some in years to come by a) making a bigger profit and b) paying 25%+ in taxes (probably  )

Grumpy_chap

The key thing is what the criteria are for the second grant and, as Jeremy said, this is to be released in a week or so.  For the first grant, one of the criteria is that the business has been 'adversely affected' (which had a broad definition).  No-one know for the second grant, whether it will simply be the same criteria, or have something that slightly rephrases the criteria to 'continues to be adversely affected'.  If the latter, then you might not be able to claim the second grant.  It's a waiting game for now.

nathandelabrum_2

I guess I’ll just wait and see what the wording of the criteria is. Ultimately, if we can’t start applying for 2 months or so, that’s a very long time in the current situation. I could end up getting it or getting an alert that I’ve been in contact with someone who has it (once the app becomes available). If I have to self isolate and take x number of weeks off work, then obviously I’ll have been adversely affected again.