A reminder about the Self-Employment Income Support Scheme (SEISS)
What is SEISS?
The Self-Employment Income Support Scheme (SEISS) was created for the self-employed or a member of a partnership, who were affected by coronavirus. If you lost out on income or had to stop working in order to look after someone as a direct result of coronavirus, you could apply for money from the government through SEISS. It allowed you to receive 80% of your average profits, up to a maximum of £7,500 for a total of three months.
Applying for the grant
The last possible date for application to SEISS was the 1st of June 2021, and is therefore no longer available.
Paying it back
If you received SEISS you won’t have to pay it back, unless you stopped trading during this tax year. You will only have to pay back the tax in the form of taxable income for the tax year 2020/21. The only revision to this is that if a payment was made to a partner and distributed amongst a partnership, it will remain unchanged.
How will you be taxed?
SEISS payments must be taxed in the year they’re received. The tax year and therefore tax return you include your SEISS grants in will depend on what type of grant it is, and if you’re self-employed or a partner in a partnership. The following table shows you what you can expect:
| SEISS grant | Business type | Grant to be included in which tax return |
| Grants 1, 2 or 3 | Self-employed |
The self-employed section / pages of the 2020/21 tax return. The first three grants must be included in your 2020/21 tax return, regardless of which accounting period you use. |
| Grants 1, 2 or 3 | Partner in partnership | If you received your SEISS grant/grants into your own personal bank account, and it was not recorded as partnership income in your partnership accounts, the grant is treated in the same way as if you were self-employed. This means that:
· Grants 1, 2 and 3 must be included on your 2020/21 tax return, regardless of your partnership’s accounting period. Include the full amount of your SEISS grants on your supplementary pages, in box 9.1 on either the SA104S short partnership pages or the SA104F full partnership pages. Do not include your SEISS grants on the partnership tax return (SA800). |
| Grants 4 or 5 | Self-employed | These grants will be taxed within the tax year that they are received, therefore this should be 2021/22. |
| Grants 4 or 5 | Partner in partnership | These grants will be taxed within the tax year that they are received, therefore this should be 2021/22 and must be included in the partnership 2021/22 supplementary pages. |
How Aardvark Accounting can help
Tax can be confusing, and it pays to get it right first time. That’s why enlisting the services of a specialist contractor accountant can mean the difference between keeping the taxman happy, or finding a bigger problem further down the line. Here at Aardvark we specialise in the complex tax needs of contractors, and are able to advise you based on your personal and professional needs. Get our expert advice, find out more today.
Note: All the information and advice in this blog post was correct at the time of writing.
