Denied SEISS pls help

Sophia1234sophia

Hi everyone,
I’m a self employed actress and have been denied SEISS and I have no idea why. 18-19 I had a bad year and only earned £4,500 from SE and £6000 from PAYE. 17-18 I earned £18000 and no PAYE and 16-17 I earned £26000 and no PAYE. I’ve appealed twice and heard nothing back. When I contacted HMRC they just told me to appeal again! Does anyone have any idea why I’ve been told I’m ineligible? Thanks in advance.
Sophia

poppy12345

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

Did you submit your 2018/19 tax return on or before 23 April 2020?

Jeremy535897

There have been a few cases posted on here where they have only looked at 2018/19, despite the requirement to look at the three years. The link to the review is in here:

"If you’re not eligible

We have used the information you or your tax agent or adviser sent us on your Self Assessment tax returns to work out your eligibility.

If you submitted your returns between 26 March 2020 and 23 April 2020 check your eligibility again as the online service has been updated.

If you think you are eligible, you should first check who can claim or contact your tax agent or adviser for help.

If you still think you should be able to claim you can ask HMRC to review your eligibility.

Find other help and support you can get."

Sophia1234sophia

Poppy - yes submitted in early January

Grumpy_chap

It looks like they have assessed eligibility based on the 50% test for 18-19 only.  If that fails, they should assess eligibility based on the average of 3 years.  There have been several other people with threads saying much the same error.

Sophia1234sophia

Thanks Jeremy- still waiting to hear back from my review (now on my second one and heard nothing from either

Sophia1234sophia

Thanks Grumpy- do you happen to know if any reviews were successful? All I’m seeing is unsuccessful ones

Grumpy_chap

I'm not sure as I've not paid particularly close attention (I don't get SEISS) but I think, on this one point, there were some successful reviews following the process that Jeremy referenced.

Jeremy535897

Sophia1234sophia said:

Thanks Jeremy- still waiting to hear back from my review (now on my second one and heard nothing from either

I remember one poster with this particular problem who was despairing of getting anywhere, and then it got worked out, so keep pushing. If you have an agent, talk to them as well.

Sophia1234sophia

Thank you so much everyone - I’m just at the end of my tether now getting “computer says no” over and over again! 😒

Jeremy535897

Sophia1234sophia said:

Thank you so much everyone - I’m just at the end of my tether now getting “computer says no” over and over again! 😒

Leave it until Monday. If you still get nowhere, call them. Speak to your agent first, if you have one.