SEISS advice please

Andyb78

Hi. Still struggling to get clarity from HMRC in relation to the initial payment I received last month under the Self Employed Income Support Scheme. My local MP hasn’t been much help either. Here’s the scenario;

Tax Year 2017/18 - £2K earnings (only turned self employed in February 2018)
Tax Year 2018/19 - £30K earnings (and I was due to report similar earnings for 2019/20)
Therefore, SEISS grant has been calculated based on the average of these 2 years = £16K (so around £3,200 received)
Had I become self employed in April 2018 though, the payment calculation would have been based solely on my 2018/19 trading (so I’d have got around £6000)

For what it’s also worth, I was in continual full time employment during the course of tax year 2017/18 prior to going self employed in February 2018. My salary was £35K pa
I’ve read that some people in similar positions have successfully challenged HMRC on the calculation used, but it’s just proving impossible in my case. Does anyone have any advice?

gt94sss2

I’m afraid I’m not aware f anyone who has successfully challenged HMRC - they are calculating the SEISS according to the rules. If you started self employment part year through the tax year, they count the whole year when calculating your payment.

There are some posters on this forum who only started self employment at the beginning of April, just before the tax year changed and so suffer even more disproportionately 

Kattermole

Unfortunately that's just the way the legislation works. HMRC just apply it. It's unfortunate but appealing won't do anything as there's no mistake; it's just how the scheme works. You would be better off appealing to your MP for a change in the legislation, as HMRC will only act if they've made a mistake, 

Grumpy_chap

It sounds like the HMRC have calculated correctly for the OP.

mobilejo

Andyb78 said:

I’ve read that some people in similar positions have successfully challenged HMRC on the calculation used

I'd be interested to see this if you have any links?

Everyone on this forum that has challenged this particular rule I think has been rejected so far.