Find out how to claim the grant if you’re self-employed or a member of a partnership and have been significantly impacted by coronavirus
The claim process is now live until September 30, 2021
You will need to work out the changes in your turnover to claim the fifth SEISS grant and to claim a grant at the previous levels, then declare if you are more than 30% down on a typical pre-covid year for your business.
Here we explain how that works and how it alters the grant available if you are eligible.
Find out the turnover figures you’ll need before you claim, where to find them and how they affect your grant amount.
Find out what to do if you need to pay back some or all of a SEISS grant.
Find out the turnover figures you’ll need before you claim, where to find them and how they affect your grant amount.
When you do not need turnover figures to claim
HMRC will not ask you for any turnover figures if you started trading in 2019 to 2020 and did not trade in the following tax years:
2018 to 2019
2017 to 2018
2016 to 2017
If you only traded in the tax year 2019 to 2020, we’ll only use those trading profits to work out your grant.
If you’re eligible based on your tax returns, HMRC will contact you in mid-July to give you a date that you can make your claim from. It will be given to you either by email, text message, letter or within the online service.
The online service to claim the fifth grant will be available from late July 2021.
You’ll need to confirm that you meet other eligibility criteria when you make your claim.
You must make your claim on or before 30 September 2021.
How much you’ll get
If you need to tell us about your turnover
There are 2 levels of grant.
HMRC will work out your grant amount based on how much your turnover is down by after we’ve compared your 2 turnover figures.
If your turnover is down by You’ll get Maximum grant amount
30% or more 80% of 3 months’ average trading profits £7,500
Less than 30% 30% of 3 months’ average trading profits £2,850
BEFORE YOU CLAIM You should check if you are able to claim the fifth grant.
You’ll need to tell us about your turnover if you submitted a tax return for your business in 2019 to 2020 as well as any of the following tax years:
2018 to 2019
2017 to 2018
2016 to 2017
Turnover includes the takings, fees, sales or money earned or received by your business.
You must:
Work out your turnover for a 12-month period starting from 1 April 2020 to 6 April 2020.
2. Find your turnover from either 2019 to 2020 or 2018 to 2019 to use as a reference year. You will need to have both figures ready when you make your claim.
HOW TO WORK OUT YOUR APRIL 20 TO APRIL 21 TURNOVER
You need to work out your turnover for a 12-month period, starting on any date from 1 to 6 April 2020.
You can use one of the following periods:
1 April 2020 to 31 March 2021
2 April 2020 to 1 April 2021
3 April 2020 to 2 April 2021
4 April 2020 to 3 April 2021
5 April 2020 to 4 April 2021
6 April 2020 to 5 April 2021
You should check that your figure is accurate. HMRC will be able to check your figures after you submit your tax return for this period.
Your figure must include the turnover from all of your businesses.
HMRC will be able to check your figures after you submit your tax return for this period. Your figure must include the turnover from all of your businesses.
Where to find your turnover figures
You can:
refer to your 2020 to 2021 Self-Assessment tax return if you’ve completed it
check your accounting software (if you use any)
go through your bookkeeping or spreadsheet records that cover your self-employment invoices and payments received
check the bank account you use for your business to account for money coming in from customers
ask your accountant or tax adviser (if you have one)
What not to include
Anything reported as any other income on your tax return. You should also not include any coronavirus (COVID-19) support payments, for example:
previous SEISS grants
Eat Out to Help Out payments
local authority or devolved administration grants
If you started or ceased a business in 2020 to 2021
You should include the turnover received between April 2020 to April 2021, even if this covers less than 12 months.
If you have more than one business as a sole trader
Your figure must include the total turnover from all of your businesses.
This includes any new business you started between April 2020 to April 2021.
If you’re a member of a partnership
How you work out your turnover depends on when you entered the partnership and if you have other businesses.
If you were a member of the same partnership in your reference year and in April 2020 to April 2021 and had no other businesses in either of those years.
You’ll need to work out and use the partnership’s total turnover figure.
If you were a member of the same partnership in the tax year 2019 to 2020 and in the period April 2020 to April 2021, and you also had other businesses at any time in either of those periods.
You’ll need to work out and include your percentage share of the partnership’s turnover. This will be the same as the percentage of profit you took from the partnership in your reference year, even if your profit share percentage changed after your reference year. You should add this to the turnover from your other businesses.
If you’ve joined a partnership between April 2020 and April 2021 and have other businesses.
You need to work out your percentage share of the partnership’s turnover. It will be the same percentage of profit you took from the partnership in the 12-month period, April 2020 to April 2021. You should add this to the turnover from your other businesses.
If you have Lloyd’s income
If you have Lloyd’s income as well as income from another business, you should use the turnover from your other business.
If you only have Lloyd’s income, you’ll need to contact us.
FIND A PREVIOUS YEAR'S TURNOVER AS A REFERENCE YEAR
In most cases, you must use the turnover reported in your 2019 to 2020 tax return as a reference year. The figure needs to be based on a 12-month period and include the total turnover for all your businesses.
If 2019 to 2020 was not a normal year for your business, you can use the turnover reported in your 2018 to 2019 tax return.
Your records should show how 2019 to 2020 was not a normal year for you. For example, if you:
were on carers leave, long term sick leave or had a new child
carried out reservist duties
lost a large contract
are eligible for the fifth grant but did not submit a 2019 to 2020 return
Find out more about how your different circumstances affect your eligibility.
Where to find your turnover on your tax return
There is a box for turnover on your tax return. If you submit a paper return, the box is different depending on which Self-Assessment sections you complete. For section:
SA200 it is box 3.6
SA103S it is box 9
SA103F it is box 15
SA800 it is box 3.24 or 3.29 (for partnerships)
You can find previous tax returns by:
logging in to your personal tax account to view online
checking your business records
asking your accountant (if you have one)
You should check that the figure you use is correct before you make your claim.
If you think it is not correct, for example it includes other business income, you should make sure you use the correct figure when you claim and amend your tax return.
If you have an accounting period longer than 12 months
You’ll need to work out what your 12-month turnover was.
If you have an accounting period shorter than 12 months because you changed your accounting date
You’ll need to work out what your 12-month turnover was.
If you started or ceased a business in your reference year
You should include the turnover received in your reference year, even if this covers less than 12 months.
If you have more than one business as a sole trader
Your figure must include the total turnover for all of your businesses.
If you’re a member of a partnership and have no other businesses
You’ll need to use the partnership’s total turnover figure.
If you’re a member of a partnership and also have another business
For each partnership, you’ll need to include your percentage share of the partnership’s turnover. This will be the same as the percentage of profit you took from each partnership in this year. You must add this to the turnover from your other businesses.
If you have Lloyd’s income
If you have Lloyd’s income as well as income from another business, you should use the turnover from the other business.
If you only have Lloyds income in 2018 to 2019 and 2019 to 2020, you’ll need to contact us.
HOW YOUR TURNOVER AFFECTS YOUR GRANT AMOUNT
When you make your claim, the online service will ask you for your turnover figures and compare them for you.
The claims service will then tell you if you can claim the higher or lower grant amount. If your turnover is down by 30% or more Your grant will be:
worked out at 80% of 3 months’ average trading profits
capped at £7,500
If your turnover is down by less than 30%
Your grant will be:
worked out at 30% of 3 months’ average trading profits
capped at £2,850
EXAMPLES
There are examples for:
when you’ll get the higher grant
when you’ll get the lower grant
if 2019 to 2020 was not a normal year for your business
if you have more than one business
if your accounting period is longer than 12 months
if you have an accounting period shorter than 12 months because you changed your accounting date
if you’re a member of a partnership and also have another business
WHEN YOU'LL GET THE HIGHER GRANT
If you have a total turnover of:
£20,000 for 2019 to 2020
£10,000 for April 2020 to April 2021
Your turnover for April 2020 to April 2021 is down by 50% compared to 2019 to 2020. You’ll get the higher grant amount which is worth 80% of 3 months’ average trading profits because your turnover is down by 30% or more.
WHEN YOU'LL GET THE LOWER GRANT
If you have a total turnover of:
£20,000 for 2019 to 2020
£16,000 for April 2020 to April 2021
Your turnover for April 2020 to April 2021 is down by 20% compared to 2019 to 2020. You’ll get the lower grant amount which is worth 30% of 3 months’ average trading profits because your turnover is down by less than 30%.
If 2019 to 2020 was not a normal year for your business
You had a lower than normal turnover in 2019 to 2020 due to a long period of sickness. You had a normal year of trading in 2018 to 2019 so you can use 2018 to 2019 as your reference year.
Year Turnover Reduction compared to 2020 to 2021
2018 to 2019 £36,000 75%
2019 to 2020 £12,000 25%
2020 to 2021 £ 9,000 N/A
Your turnover for:
2018 to 2019 was £36,000
2020 to 2021 was £ 9,000
Your business turnover is down by 75% when comparing £36,000 turnover from 2018 to 2019 with £9,000 turnover from 2020 to 2021.
In this example, you would be entitled to the higher grant as your turnover is down by 75%.
If you have more than one business
Your turnover in 2019 to 2020 for:
business A was £30,000
business B was £20,000
Add them together for a combined turnover of £50,000.
Compare this to your turnover of £25,000 in 2020 to 2021, your turnover is down by 50%.
Year Business A turnover Business B turnover Total turnover Reduction v.2020/ 2021
2019/ 2020 £30,000 £20,000 £50,000 50%
2020/ 2021 £20,000 £ 5,000 £25,000 N/A
In this example you’re entitled to claim the higher grant by comparing 2020 to 2021 turnover to 2019 to 2020 because your total turnover is down by 50%.
If your accounting period is longer than 12 months
If you have a 15-month accounting period and declared a turnover of £45,000 on your 2019 to 2020 tax return. To get your 12-month turnover for 2019 to 2020 you could:
Divide your 15-month figure by 15 to get your turnover for 1 month.
Multiply this by 12.
Year 15-month turnover 1-month turnover Total turnover for 12 months
2019 to 2020 £45,000 £3,000 £36,000
If the method in this example does not produce a fair result for you, you can use another reasonable method.
If you have an accounting period shorter than 12 months because you changed your accounting date
If you:
have an 8-month accounting period and declared turnover of £16,000 on your 2019 to 2020 tax return
had a 12-month accounting period in 2018 to 2019 and declared a turnover of £24,000
To get your 12-month turnover for 2019 to 2020 you would need to:
work out 4-months of turnover from your 2018 to 2019 tax return by dividing by 12 and multiplying by 4.
add this to the 8-month turnover in your 2019 to 2020 tax return.
Year 8-month turnover 4-month turnover (from 2018 -2019) Total 12 months
2019 - 2020 £16,000 £8,000 £24,000
If you’re a member of a partnership and also have another business
If you:
are using 2019 to 2020 as your reference year
are a member of a partnership and took a 5% share of the profits in 2019 to 2020
have another business as a sole trader
You need to:
Use the same percentage, (in this example 5%) of your share of the profits in 2019 to 2020 to work out your share of the partnership turnover in both the reference year and 2020 to 2021.
2. Add these to your sole trader turnover in both years to get the total turnover figures.
Year Total partnership turnover Sole trader turnover
2019 to 2020 £10,000 £20,000
2020 to 2021 £ 8,000 £ 5,000
Year 5% share of partnership turnover Sole trader turnover Total turnover
2019 to 2020 £500 £20,000 £20,500
2020 to 2021 £400 £ 5,000 £ 5,400
You will use £20,500 for 2019 to 2020 and £5,400 for 2020 to 2021.
GET HELP WORKING OUT YOUR TURNOVER
You can register for free webinars to learn more about how to work out your business turnover.
Contacting HMRC We are receiving very high numbers of calls. Contacting HMRC unnecessarily puts our essential public services at risk during these challenging times. You can contact HMRC if you cannot get the help you need online.
HOW TO CLAIM
You should make your claim on or after the personal claim date HMRC has given you.
You must make the claim yourself. Do not ask a tax agent or adviser to claim on your behalf as this will trigger a fraud alert, which will delay your payment.
HMRC will check claims. We’ll take appropriate action to withhold or recover payments for claims found to be dishonest or inaccurate. If you know you’re not eligible for the grant and do not tell us, you may also have to pay a penalty.
If an amendment to your tax return on or after the 3 March 2021 lowers the grant amount you’re eligible for, you’ll need to tell us within 90 days. You may need to pay back some or all of the grant