Self-Employment Income Support Scheme – fourth grant – HMRC announcement that they will contact newly self-employed who may be eligible

“Following the Chancellor’s announcement at Budget on 3 March that the fourth grant will take into account 2019 to 2020 tax returns and therefore be open to those who became self-employed in the tax year 2019 to 2020, HMRC is beginning to contact newly self-employed customers who may be eligible for support under the scheme. This group may be eligible to claim the 4th and 5th grant following the Chancellor’s announcement at Budget.

HMRC is moving quickly to contact customers in this group to verify their details to make sure those who are entitled are able to access support as quickly as possible when SEISS opens from late April. Customers will start to receive letters from 8 March until mid-April and calls will begin on 9 March. HMRC will not be contacting all newly self-employed customers and therefore customers who do not receive contact and are eligible should wait to receive a personal claim date in mid-April . We would encourage all customers to ensure that their details are up-to-date in the meantime, to make sure that we do have the correct details if we do need to call.

An HMRC spokesperson said: “We have moved quickly to ensure that we have the information we need from customers before applications are open- this is part of HMRC’s overall efforts to help customers get support they are entitled to, whilst protecting the schemes from fraud. We have begun writing to customers explaining we will call them to ask for proof of identity and evidence of trade. We will be calling customers on the telephone number provided on their tax return.”

Customers who believe that they are eligible but receive no communication from HMRC should go to gov.uk and search ‘SEISS’ to find the latest information about the fourth grant.”