SEISS 4 - eligibility - newly self-employed plus maternity leave

RosieJS

I am wondering if anyone else has had problems with SEISS 4 eligibility as a working parent. I am newly self-employed (July 2019) so thought I would be eligible for SEISS 4. But because of being on maternity leave from January - September 2019, this apparently means I am not. The mat leave skewed my tax return. I have asked HMRC but they've reviewed the case - including their new parent rules - and I still can't get any help, as they're going off old tax returns when I was employed, not self-employed. Has anyone else had this? Any advice?

RosieJS

Sorry - my mistake - I was on maternity leave from January - September 2020, not 2019!

poppy12345

To claim SEISS you will have needed to submit your 19/20 tax returns no later than 2nd March 2021. If you didn't do this then you won't be able to claim. https://www.gov.uk/guidance/claim-a-grant-through-the-coronavirus-covid-19-self-employment-income-support-scheme

Jeremy535897

I assume the problem is in the conditions see bold italics below::

If having a new child affected your 2019 to 2020 tax return

You may be able to make a claim if having a new child affected your 2019 to 2020 tax return.

For this scheme having a new child means:

• being pregnant
• giving birth (including a stillbirth after more than 24 weeks of pregnancy) and the 26 weeks after giving birth
• caring for a child within 12 months of birth if you have parental responsibility
• caring for a child within 12 months of adoption placement

If you have had a new child, you may be able to claim if:

• the trading profits and total income reported in your 2019 to 2020 tax return mean you do not meet the eligibility criteria for the grant
• you did not submit a 2019 to 2020 tax return

Before making a claim, you must contact us to verify that having a new child has affected your eligibility.

To make a claim you must have submitted a 2018 to 2019 tax return and meet all other eligibility criteria.

How we’ll work out your eligibility and grant

We’ll work out your eligibility based on your Self Assessment tax returns for one of the following:

• the average of the tax years 2016 to 2017, 2017 to 2018 and 2018 to 2019
• the average of the tax years 2017 to 2018 and 2018 to 2019, if you did not submit a tax return in 2016 to 2017
• the tax year 2018 to 2019, if you did not submit a tax return in 2017 to 2018

We’ll work out your grant using an average of up to 3 years’ trading profits. We’ll take into account trading profits from the 2016 to 2017, 2017 to 2018 and 2018 to 2019 tax years.

If you have a gap in the years you have traded, we’ll only use your most recent returns after the gap to work out your eligibility and grant amount.

elle680

Can anyone give me any advice, basically, I have a part time employed job (24 hours/week) and I am self employed the rest of the time, my employment during tax year 2019-2020 was more then my self employment.  I am not a high earner in either work, basically minimum wage.  My self employment dried up completely in January due to lockdown so I have been living off the part time employment money, this has left me in debt now as my bills equate to more than the employment earnings.  I have always paid a tax return since 2010 for my self employment.  I feel this has been a very stressful and hard time financially and just because of a few hours employment I am entitled to no help??

Jeremy535897

Did you have the same problem (employment more than self employment) in earlier years as well?