What are the basic eligibility requirements for SEISS?

It has not been possible for any further applications for SEISS grants to be made since 30 September 2021. The operation of the SEISS scheme has therefore come to an end. The following is being temporarily retained only as a record and reminder of some aspects of how this scheme operated.

An SEISS grant was available only to self-employed ndividuals, including partnerships, but not to an owner-manager of a small business operating as a company.   It applies if you carried on a trade and lost trading profits due to Covid-19.

The dates by which you could apply for the grants for any of the periods covered by SEISS have all passed.

If your annual profits exceed £50,000 per annum, you were not eligible for any amount at all under SEISS. If half or more of your total annual income was not derived from your self-employment, you were not eligible for any amount at all under SEISS.

The grant payments were available to an individual who has:

(1) delivered a tax return to HMRC for the relevant tax year/s in which they have traded;  and

(2) carried on a trade in the relevant tax year/s.

The scheme spell out the relevant years in relation to grant payment/s that were to be claimed. 

As to eligibility for the period May-September 2021 (covered by the 5th grant payment), the basic rules were the same as for the previous grant payments, but applicants must have been able to prove when they applied that they were continuing to trade.