Yet more SEISS 4!

mljg

Hi again, more SEISS 4 questions I’m afraid!

If my business was affected due to the lockdown but I took on some extra ad hoc work in a different trade to try and earn at least some money to compensate, do I have to offset what I earned doing the extra work when calculating if I had a significant reduction of profit or do I only concern myself with my primary business and the reduction in profits from that alone?

E.g. Let’s say I was due to earn £2000 profit from my business but couldn’t due to the lockdown. 

I took on some ad hoc extra work and earned £600 profit. 

My loss is now £1400 not £2000 and therefore my reduction in profit is less due to the extra work. 

How does this affect my claim please? 

Thanks 

Jeremy535897

The Treasury Direction states:

"7.3 Subject to paragraph 7.4, a claim may only be made for a SEISS 4 payment in respect of the period beginning with 1 February 2021 and ending with 30 April 2021 (“the qualifying period”) in relation to a trade-

(a) the business of which has suffered reduced activity, capacity or demand in the qualifying period from that which could reasonably have been expected but for the adverse effect on the business of coronavirus or coronavirus disease, and

(b) which the claimant reasonably believes will suffer a significant reduction in trading profits for a relevant basis period from that which would otherwise have reasonably been expected as a result of that reduced activity, capacity or demand."

My view is that this means that if you do some other trade temporarily, that other trade should not affect the tests above. It would have to be a completely separate trade and declared as such on the self assessment return. However, that may not be a universally held view.

TBagpuss

You've still suffered a reduction so are able to claim (assuming that you meet the other criteria) 
HMRC work out the amount they pay you.

I think for SEISS 5 the criteria may depend on a specific % reduction but 4 doesn't - so as long as you're still satisfied that the reduction is a significant one  in the context of your personal situation it doesn't affect your claim at all.. (The amount you receive is based on your past profits, not on the amount by which they are reduced, so your grant may be more, or less, than the loss you have suffered)