[Paul-kent]

Who can claim
You can claim if you’re a self-employed individual or a member of a partnership and:

you carry on a trade which has been adversely affected by coronavirus
you traded in the tax year 2018 to 2019 and submitted your Self Assessment tax return on or before 23 April 2020 for that year
you traded in the tax year 2019 to 2020
you intend to continue to trade in the tax year 2020 to 2021
Your business could be adversely affected by coronavirus, for example if:

you’re unable to work because you:
are shielding
are self-isolating
are on sick leave because of coronavirus
have caring responsibilities because of coronavirus
you’ve had to scale down or temporarily stop trading because:
your supply chain has been interrupted
you have fewer or no customers or clients
your staff are unable to come in to work

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/claim-a-grant-through-the-coronavirus-covid-19-self-employment-income-support-scheme#eligible

[deeege]

It all looks positive for you self employed lads that have declared your incomes properly these last few years then.

[Arnold Palmer]

It all looks positive for you self employed lads that have declared your incomes properly these last few years then.

Mrs S has been self employed for three years, the whole time I've been telling her she needs to put her car/fuel/washing powder/phone bill/etc against her tax bill; get the profits down, pay less tax.

Mrs S didn't listen. Mrs S is smart.

[deeege]

It all looks positive for you self employed lads that have declared your incomes properly these last few years then.

Mrs S has been self employed for three years, the whole time I've been telling her she needs to put her car/fuel/washing powder/phone bill/etc against her tax bill; get the profits down, pay less tax.

Mrs S didn't listen. Mrs S is smart.

Very good. She’ll now be able to claim back, by way of a grant, the tax that she has needlessly overpaid these last 3 years. 

[TYCOON]

So if you have been working with no loss of earnings you CANNOT claim.

[deeege]

So if you have been working with no loss of earnings you CANNOT claim.

What point are you trying to prove?

Technically you are correct. However, is there a window cleaner on here who has not lost a single customer?

Even if you have lost 1 customer to Coronavirus but also continued to work and also picked up 20 new customers in that time, you WILL be eligible to claim.

I’ve gotta say I’m surprised tbh, I was expecting some last minute drama on this but it seems you’ll all get your 80%.

[NBwcs]

"HMRC will check claims and take appropriate action to withhold or recover payments found to be dishonest or inaccurate."

Smallprint is going to be interesting on this one.

[TYCOON]

I will not be claiming as i have continued to work and suffered no losses.
Prosecution awaits for all false claims.

[Rob.Hall]

Adversely...
This is the key word and will be used by HMRC.
If you have not been adversely  effected  should you claim.
My income is up, but I am down aprox £700 a month from not being able to do some commercials and private cliants....
Its a tricky one.

[TYCOON]

commercial cleaners should claim no problem.

I have only domestic so thats me out.

[zesty]

HMRC need the be much clearer and state the exact percentage loss that would qualify self employed for the grant.

E.g ‘if you have lost up to 50% of your trading profits since  lockdown, you can apply’

Rather than ‘adversely effected’ which is a massive grey area. I’ve lost income, no doubt. But how much is adversely? 20%? 40%? Who knows.

I’m still paying the bills and making money. But yet I have lost several commercial jobs during this period of lockdown.

[CleanClear]

HMRC need the be much clearer and state the exact percentage loss that would qualify self employed for the grant.

You had two options: Stay Home ,save lives................... or.......... if you can't work from home you can go to work. Just explain what one you done. You'll be fine.

[G Griffin]

Is there a timescale for being adversely affected? The initial period was three months with a view to it being extended (it won't be).
What if you get coronavirus in late June or you lose most of your work after because of it?
Clear as Mud. That's right, that's right, that's right...…
They should have just bunged everyone the same bribe for their failure to prepare the country for the inevitable.
Shambolic.

[Slacky]

HMRC need the be much clearer and state the exact percentage loss that would qualify self employed for the grant.

E.g ‘if you have lost up to 50% of your trading profits since  lockdown, you can apply’

Rather than ‘adversely effected’ which is a massive grey area. I’ve lost income, no doubt. But how much is adversely? 20%? 40%? Who knows.

I’m still paying the bills and making money. But yet I have lost several commercial jobs during this period of lockdown.

A 20% pay cut would be seen as adverse. It would if Arthur Scargill was about and he was arguing for the miners.

Ive lost about 20% of my regular work. I’ve picked up lots of one-off work. But Im always picking up one-off work, so thats irrelevant, I’ve still lost about 20% of my regular work.

[G Griffin]

HMRC need the be much clearer and state the exact percentage loss that would qualify self employed for the grant.

E.g ‘if you have lost up to 50% of your trading profits since  lockdown, you can apply’

Rather than ‘adversely effected’ which is a massive grey area. I’ve lost income, no doubt. But how much is adversely? 20%? 40%? Who knows.

I’m still paying the bills and making money. But yet I have lost several commercial jobs during this period of lockdown.

A 20% pay cut would be seen as adverse. It would if Arthur Scargill was about and he was arguing for the miners.

Ive lost about 20% of my regular work. I’ve picked up lots of one-off work. But Im always picking up one-off work, so thats irrelevant, I’ve still lost about 20% of my regular work.

There'd be no pay cuts with King Arthur. And he wouldn't have settled for 80% either.
He'd have this lot on their knees.

[Pete Thompson]

You can be adversely affected in all kinds of ways.

Your growth might not have been as good as you expected, that is an adverse effect.

You might have had to spend an extra 3 hours emailing customers at the start of the crisis to tell them you were still coming - that is an adverse effect.

I think you guys who are terrified about getting in trouble are missing the point. The government wants us to have this money, so that our businesses continue and (more importantly) we have money to spend in the rest of the economy i.e. new cars, coffee shops, clothes etc

They know that this is an investment. Whatever it costs them, it will be money well spent to avoid a collapsing economy, which would cost much, much more.

If nobody has any money to spend, the economy is going to be seriously up the creek.

[Arnold Palmer]

Is there a timescale for being adversely affected? The initial period was three months with a view to it being extended (it won't be).
What if you get coronavirus in late June or you lose most of your work after because of it?
Clear as Mud. That's right, that's right, that's right...…
They should have just bunged everyone the same bribe for their failure to prepare the country for the inevitable.
Shambolic.

It had better be.

Either that or they let Mrs S get back to work.

[Dave Willis]

I had a cough for a week so didn’t work.

That should do it.

[G Griffin]

Is there a timescale for being adversely affected? The initial period was three months with a view to it being extended (it won't be).
What if you get coronavirus in late June or you lose most of your work after because of it?
Clear as Mud. That's right, that's right, that's right...…
They should have just bunged everyone the same bribe for their failure to prepare the country for the inevitable.
Shambolic.

It had better be.

Either that or they let Mrs S get back to work.

I meant the grant is for three months. I can't see there being another. Not at 80% for 95% of the self employed anyway.
But you have a point; I wouldn't be surprised if Mrs. S isn't allowed to reopen in June. And there's the schools to consider. How many self employed can't work if the schools are closed?
I was talking from a window cleaner's viewpoint though. There's nowt to say the impact of the virus won't be felt later after June.
I wonder if they'll be better placed to deal with this in June.

[AuRavelling79]

You can be adversely affected in all kinds of ways.

Your growth might not have been as good as you expected, that is an adverse effect.

You might have had to spend an extra 3 hours emailing customers at the start of the crisis to tell them you were still coming - that is an adverse effect.

I think you guys who are terrified about getting in trouble are missing the point. The government wants us to have this money, so that our businesses continue and (more importantly) we have money to spend in the rest of the economy i.e. new cars, coffee shops, clothes etc

They know that this is an investment. Whatever it costs them, it will be money well spent to avoid a collapsing economy, which would cost much, much more.

If nobody has any money to spend, the economy is going to be seriously up the creek.

Quite right Pete.

(I just looked at my April 2020 vs April 2019 figure on "George". I'm about £1000 down on turnover due in part to commercials on hold, a small few cancelled residential, the fact that I now rent about £300 per month out from last year instead of cleaning myself and that I stopped for a few days.)

That is "largely" adversely affected due to the Coronavirus. I believe the claims will go in at the end of May and I guess I will be down about £500 on May. Who knows what it will be by the end of the tax year? I might claw back my losses and do better than last year, or the economy might effect more of my customers as the year goes on and I do worse than I am doing now.

But at the point of claim - with several commercials "on hold" and working more cautiously (slowly) due to social distancing - I will with clear conscience say my business has been adversely affected and claim.
 
Now if Daz was Chancellor he might say it's mainly my own silly fault for prevaricating and not working in the first week of lockdown; for fannying about writing letters to my customers and  that I should have got straight out there and canvassed to ameliorate my losses like an entrepreneurial businessman.

If Griff was Chancellor he'd surely say "well done good and faithful slave - you have stayed at home, helped the NHS and saved lives - have the payout and don't pay your tax in July if you can't afford it."

Malcolm in the Middle - that's me!