For those who are looking to claim for support through the government’s Self Employment Income Support Scheme please be aware that in order to make a claim you will need to have your Government Gateway ID set up and accessible.

If you have set up a Government Gateway in the past, please try logging in ASAP to ensure your username ID and password work.

If you have never set up a Government Gateway ID, then do this now, so everything is up and running by the time the Government opens the support scheme.

Please note as accountants / tax agents we won’t have access to and don’t use your individual Government Gateway to file tax returns (we use software that reports direct to HMRC). So it’s important that you have set up your own individual account.

Please take the following action:

1. Follow the below link to the “Check if you’re eligible to claim” section

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

2. Enter your UTR and National Insurance details
3. You will be notified of the date from when you can make a claim.
4. If you don’t have a Government Gateway ID already, set one up ready to make a claim.

The online service is available from 13 May 2020. If you’re eligible, HMRC will tell you the date you can make your claim from. If your claim is approved you’ll receive your payment within 6 working days.

As a reminder the scheme will allow you to claim a taxable grant of 80% of your average monthly trading profits, paid out in a single instalment covering 3 months, and capped at £7,500 altogether.