Received SEISS 1+2; declared to HMRC no longer self-employed to start temping job

CeSeraSera

I've been self-employed since 2018 as an arts producer. Arts events have been suspended and my contracts for jobs were too. I received the SEISS grant 1 & 2. Also on UC. No prospect of me having the chance to trade 20/21 with continued restrictions, so took a FT temp job until end of March. Started job last week. I declared change with UC and since I needed to acquire a tax code for PAYE I declared to HMRC that I was ending self-employed status. I am happier to be working and earning a basic wage, so I do not mind not receiving 3 SEISS grant. Question is, will I have to repay SEISS 1 & 2? I contacted HMRC and they could not give me a straight answer other than "with the information available at this time, you do not need to repay that grant. However, that may change in the future." Any advice or experience of this would be great. Thanks in advance :-)

Grumpy_chap

The declaration for the SEISS grant is "intend to continue to trade".  So long as that was your honest intention at the time of making the declaration, then that seems to be a valid claim.  You may wish to consider how you would evidence the "intent" in the (unlikely imo) event of being challenged.

I imagine a lot of people in your position would have taken the PAYE job, but not declared no longer sole trader and still gone for the next SEISS also.  You seem to have done the correct thing.

All of this is just my lay view, I am not a tax adviser.

Jeremy535897

You should not have to repay the first and second grants, unless you had ceased intending to trade in 2020/21 by the day you sent in your claim for SEISS 2.

CeSeraSera

Thanks for the feedback. I could have continued to be self-employed and apply for the 3rd SEISS grant, with apparently little/no prospect of getting any contracts to work on in this tax year since the industry has all but closed down. The arts bring people together and that's my job, but with the restrictions I am unable to project manage the event delivery of festivals and events since they are not allowed to happen. I thought it best to take a PAYE temp job in a different sector to gain steady income and work.  I had a contract (suspended mid-March) to deliver two festivals which had been pencilled to be delivered later in the year. They have recently consolidated as this year's delivery was financially unviable and are planning for next year instead. I've acted in all honesty. I just hope the goal posts are not shifted.

Jeremy535897

I think you have made the right decision. I don't know what you have in mind by "goal posts are not shifted", but there is zero probability of them changing the rules on SEISS 1 and 2 in retrospect. HMRC have been emailing claimants where it seems clear they ceased trading back in 2019/20.