SEISS Help

Dannii2006

I wonder if anyone can help me. I'm a self-employed massage therapist and work in a clinic where they pay me in arrears. The invoice is dated for the last working day of the month but is not paid until 10 days later.  Do I base my loss of earnings on the actual invoice date or payment received date? If I do the latter it won't take into account that I didn't actually work during January and I will be worse off financially. Any advice anyone could offer would be great. TIA

Grumpy_chap

If it were me, I would use actual invoice date.

Jeremy535897

Dannii2006 said:

I wonder if anyone can help me. I'm a self-employed massage therapist and work in a clinic where they pay me in arrears. The invoice is dated for the last working day of the month but is not paid until 10 days later.  Do I base my loss of earnings on the actual invoice date or payment received date? If I do the latter it won't take into account that I didn't actually work during January and I will be worse off financially. Any advice anyone could offer would be great. TIA

You either prepare your accounts on the accruals ("traditional") basis or the cash basis. Which is it? If you use the traditional basis, the invoice date is the relevant date. If you use the cash basis, it is when you receive payment that is relevant. You should indicate whether or not you use the cash basis on your self assessment return. What did last year's say?

Dannii2006

Jeremy535897 said:

Dannii2006 said:

I wonder if anyone can help me. I'm a self-employed massage therapist and work in a clinic where they pay me in arrears. The invoice is dated for the last working day of the month but is not paid until 10 days later.  Do I base my loss of earnings on the actual invoice date or payment received date? If I do the latter it won't take into account that I didn't actually work during January and I will be worse off financially. Any advice anyone could offer would be great. TIA

You either prepare your accounts on the accruals ("traditional") basis or the cash basis. Which is it? If you use the traditional basis, the invoice date is the relevant date. If you use the cash basis, it is when you receive payment that is relevant. You should indicate whether or not you use the cash basis on your self assessment return. What did last year's say?

I use cash basis for my returns on the advice of an accountant. So I'm guessing on that basis I should not apply for the grant even though I will not earn any money this month? 
Thank you for your reply 

Grumpy_chap

What is the OP's basis period?

Jeremy535897

Dannii2006 said:

Jeremy535897 said:

Dannii2006 said:

I wonder if anyone can help me. I'm a self-employed massage therapist and work in a clinic where they pay me in arrears. The invoice is dated for the last working day of the month but is not paid until 10 days later.  Do I base my loss of earnings on the actual invoice date or payment received date? If I do the latter it won't take into account that I didn't actually work during January and I will be worse off financially. Any advice anyone could offer would be great. TIA

You either prepare your accounts on the accruals ("traditional") basis or the cash basis. Which is it? If you use the traditional basis, the invoice date is the relevant date. If you use the cash basis, it is when you receive payment that is relevant. You should indicate whether or not you use the cash basis on your self assessment return. What did last year's say?

I use cash basis for my returns on the advice of an accountant. So I'm guessing on that basis I should not apply for the grant even though I will not earn any money this month? 
Thank you for your reply 

You look at the whole period from 1 November 2020 to 29 January 2021, and establish whether in that period you have suffered a reduction in activity, capacity or demand due to coronavirus. Clearly you have, due to the national lockdown. It isn't just about bills issued or being paid for them.
You then look at whether your trading profits will be significantly reduced in the year to 31 March 2021 (assuming this is your year end) as a result of that reduction. Those trading profits will need to be estimated using the cash basis, and excluding any earlier grants.

I previously made the error of answering your question, rather than pointing out it was the wrong question.

Grumpy_chap

Thanks Jeremy.
I hope the OP comes back to see they may well be eligible after all.

Dannii2006

Thank you, I will most definitely see a reduction in profits year on year for 20/21 even with the grant! 

Jeremy535897

Dannii2006 said:

Thank you, I will most definitely see a reduction in profits year on year for 20/21 even with the grant! 

I am afraid that this is not the right question either. You are comparing what you would have expected 2020/21 to be without the reduction in the period 1 November 2020 to 29 January 2021 and without SEISS, to what you expect 2020/21 actually will be (also without SEISS). If the difference is significant, then the test is met. National lockdowns and the tier system will presumably mean you have at least two months in the period 1 November 2020 to 29 January 2021 without working, so unless your profits accrue very unevenly over the year, two months out is going to be significant.

Dannii2006

Ok. Sorry for not getting this 😔.
My full situation is as follows; we were allowed to work in November as we were able to offer massage on a medical need through referral, based on the clinic I worked in (osteopath). I have not been able to work in this current lockdown.
My income received November- January based on Oct-Dec invoices is not substantially lower, however using the invoices for November - January it will be substantially lower. 

Dannii2006

Thank you for your help with this by the way 🙏