Self employed income support scheme question?

[cactusmama79]

Hi all,

I'm wondering if any other self employed people could help me out? I am a photographer so I had to close for 3 months during lockdown #1 and I also closed for Nov. I have claimed both sets of money from the gov so far and am hoping to claim the next also. I understand this money is taxable also. When I have been able to work I've been working really hard taking extra bookings because I never know how the next month will look with lockdowns/cancellations etc so I have been earning a good amount when I am open.

My question is however, next year when I submit my 20-21 tax form, will they look at it and say "She hasn't made much of a loss, she needs to pay back the money we gave her". Or is the money just yours regardless of how much money your business has lost.

Thanks!

Good question because I am also self employed.
The website says
The grant does not need to be repaid if you’re eligible, but will be subject to Income Tax and self-employed National Insurance and must be reported on your 2020 to 2021 Self Assessment tax return.

So no does not need to be repaid, but could affect how much tax you pay that year, is my understanding

You won't need to pay it back but it will be included in your overall taxable income for the year so will affect how much tax you will need to pay back

Perfect, thank you for clearing that up :)

At the moment there is no specific direction on how and if they will investigate and how they will differentiate between fraud and genuine income variations year on year. If you have earned more this year than average once you come to do your accounts I'd keep the extra aside in case. At the moment the information is out there that this is taxable income and you must not claim if you have not lost income but when lockdowns etc make it unsure if income will or will not be coming in then it is impossible in a busines like yours to predict in advance if sales today for a service next month will or won't materialise.

Self-employed here - I've claimed for the first two, as my income has been less, due to Covid, but has also been all over the place. As it stands, with the 2 grants I've received so far, and if my two remaining clients and 1 new client all pay what I think they will, I won't be able to claim for the 3rd one. BUT one of my remaining clients is proving very erratic about the amount of work they want me for, and my new client is stalling on the start date, so may not pay me until the next financial year. So, I'm going to make a call in mid-January, when I might have a better idea of how the spring is going to go - I think you can claim up until the end of the month. So maybe waiting a bit longer would work for you as well?