How to claim 4th self-employment grant: Next SEISS payment explained, and when to apply with HMRC

The Chancellor Rishi Sunak announced further details of the next steps in the self-employment income support scheme (SEISS) in his 2021 Budget in March.

The grant allows self-employed people whose business and income had been affected by the pandemic to claim money from the Government.

There have been three payments already and Mr Sunak unveiled more information about the fourth during his announcement – but how can workers apply and who is eligible? Here’s what we know.

A fourth SEISS grant will be available to claim through the government’s website from April and will cover February, March and April.

Workers who meet the criteria can claim 80 per cent of average monthly profits capped at £2,500.

Official guidance initially said claimants would be able to apply for the payment from late April until the end of May, to allow the Government to process the recently submitted tax returns.

However, there was some confusion after updated guidance instructed businesses to wait to hear from the taxman to find out if they are eligible.

Self-employed people were set to begin applications for the next wave of Government grants from the week starting 12 April.

But, instead of publishing the application dates online, HMRC said it would contact those newly registered as self-employed via text message, email or letters. Once contacted they would be given their own personal application date.

This was contradicted on 12 April when a link began circulating through which some people were able to input details and access the estimated date they would be able to claim funding.

Others who tried to use the same link, however, were given no information or were inexplicably told they were ineligible.

An HMRC spokesperson told i the link circulating was one that people who had previously accessed the first, second and third grants would have used but it had not yet been updated with information of any new, eligible claimants.

“There is no physical ‘check here’ link live on gov.uk yet but there are lots of people using the same URL that they used to make previous claims,” the spokesperson said. “So the details are there for some people but not others.”

They said they were contacting all new claimants and that, by 19 April, everyone would be able to log on and check the dates they can apply for the funding.

The Chancellor confirmed during his Budget that there will also be a fifth payment, which will open to claims from late July and cover the period from May until July.

Mr Sunak indicated that the support would be scaled back slightly for the this installment, with the full 80 per cent grant given to people whose turnover has fallen by 30 per cent or more.

He told MPs: “People whose turnover has fallen by less than 30 per cent will therefore have less need of taxpayer support and will receive a 30 per cent grant.”

To apply, you will need your:

• Self Assessment Unique Taxpayer Reference (UTR)
• National Insurance number
• Government Gateway user ID and password
• UK bank details including account number, sort code, name on the account and address linked to the account
• Only provide bank account details where a Bacs payment can be accepted

You may also need to answer questions about your passport, driving licence or information held on your credit file.

You must make the claim yourself. A tax agent or adviser cannot claim on your behalf as this will trigger a fraud alert, which will delay your payment.

You must be a self-employed individual or a member of a partnership. You cannot claim the grant if you trade through a limited company or a trust.

Those who made a claim for the third grant must have seen their business have a new or continuing impact from coronavirus between 1 November 2020 and 29 January 2021, which they must have reasonably believed would cause a significant reduction to your profits.

You also had to declare that you would continue to trade, or that you were previously trading but are no longer able due to the pandemic.

To be eligible for the previous three grants, self-employed workers had to have traded in both 2018 to 2019 and 2019 to 2020.

For the fourth grant, there will now be an extra 600,000 newly self-employed people who may be eligible to claim Government support, Mr Sunak confirmed.

The Chancellor said: “When the scheme was launched, the newly self-employed couldn’t qualify because they hadn’t all filed a 2019/20 tax return.

“But as the tax return deadline has now passed, I can announce today that, provided they filed a tax return by midnight last night, over 600,000 more people, many of whom only became self-employed last year, can now claim the fourth and fifth grants.”

This is because the Government is now allowing workers to submit their 2019-2020 and 2020-2021 self-assessment tax returns as evidence of their earnings.

Applicants must also be able to prove that they plan to continue trading, or providing a service, beyond the end of the support, which is expected to end in April.