untied, the UK’s personal tax app, has welcomed today’s announcement of support for the self employed by Chancellor Rishi Sunak and has advised self employed people to check that their tax returns for 2018/19 are correct as this will form the basis for any money received from the Government in response to the coronavirus emergency.
Kevin Sefton CEO of untied, commented “The tax year the Chancellor is talking about ended on 5 April 2019. Although the deadline for submitting for this period was at the end of January, we know that potentially hundreds of thousands of people have yet to submit a return. We advise doing it as soon as possible. HMRC has stated that they must be filed by 23 April to qualify for the coronavirus assistance.”
The support is targeted at those who are earning under £50,000 including millions of gig economy and similar workers who typically don’t have accountants and can find the tax system daunting and confusing.
untied is offering its easy-to-use app and support for free for three months to help those in this situation. This will also allow people to do their tax return for 2019/20 which will be further evidence of self employment in that period.
For those who have submitted, their returns will be used by HMRC to determine any support they can get. If someone reviews their return and finds it is incorrect, there is the ability to submit an amendment, which can be filed directly with HMRC or using the untied software.
Key points on the Government support package
- Other than ensuring that tax returns are up to date, taxpayers should do nothing at the moment. They will be contacted by HMRC, and the scheme will only be available via GOV.UK
- Self-employed people can receive up to £2.5k per month for three months, calculated as 80% of average monthly profits
- The money will be paid directly by HMRC
- Individuals are eligible if more than half their income comes from self employment in their own name, they traded in 2019-20 and they intend to continue to trade in 2020-21 (it means that someone who has closed their self employment business will probably not qualify)
- It’s aimed at lower earners. Those with trading profits over £50k in both 2018/19 and as an average 2016-2019 don’t qualify
- The support includes those working in partnerships.
- It also looks like those who have been self-employed for under a year will lose out, which is a concern given the high turnover in self-employment
- The support is also not for people who trade through limited companies. They may be able to furlough themselves as employees but the benefit will be limited if they pay themselves through dividends and have low salaries
More information can be found here
About untied
untied is the UK’s personal tax app supporting the 12 million people in the UK who submit a personal tax return including 6 million self employed. untied is available on Android and iOS with five star ratings. The award winning business’s investors include Barclays Bank. untied is regulated by the FCA, supervised by the Institute of Tax and recognised by HMRC.
