Holden Tax Consulting

HMRC has started to contact eligible tax payers as of yesterday (4th May). Communication may be in the form of letters, emails or SMS messages depending on what contact information HMRC holds for you. Their contact will NOT contain any links. If you receive an email with a link it is likley to be a scam.

The portal to make a claim will be open between 13 and 18 May on a staged basis for different tax payers.

Tax payers then need to log into their government gateway account or select the option to create one, if they don’t have one. They will then be able to complete the application process.

Good news is HMRC will calculate your claim amount from their records. You do not need to provide financial information to them.

However HMRC will not know if you are eligible and that is why they have provided the eligibility checker. HMRC will not know if the tax payer meets the following conditions:-

• traded in 2019/20 tax year
• are trading when they apply or would be except for COVID19
• intend to continue to trade in 20/21 tax year and
• have lost trading profits due to coronavirus

There is an eligibility checker which you can use. Here is the link https://www.tax.service.gov.uk/self-employment-support/enter-unique-taxpayer-reference You will need your UTR and NI number to check eligibility.

If it says you are not eligible and you don’t understand why, then it would be advisable to speak to your accountant so they can review it for you and request a review.

HMRC will check the claim and hope to pay from 25th May or within 6 working days of the application submission, whichever is later.

Agents have not been given the authority to process this claim for you.