TaxSource Total

Here you can access summary of the key current tax developments in Ireland, the UK and internationally as reported by Chartered Accountants Ireland

The report of key tax developments are displayed per year, per month, by Ireland, the UK or International and by report title

SEISS claims by traders who have ceased trading

Taxpayers who claimed the SEISS and who advised HMRC that they ceased to trade in 2018/19 or 2019/20 will begin receiving letters advising them that the grant has been wrongly claimed and should be repaid.

The letter advises as follows:-

“The purpose of the Self-Employment Income Support Scheme (SEISS) is to help self-employed individuals and members of partnerships who have been adversely affected by coronavirus.

To be eligible for SEISS all these conditions must apply:

  1. You traded in the tax year 2018 to 2019 and submitted your Self-Assessment tax return on or before 23 April 2020 for that year
  2. You traded in the tax year 2019 to 2020
  3. You intend to continue to trade in the tax year 2020 to 2021

On your tax return for either 2018 to 2019 or 2019 to 2020 you indicated that you had stopped trading. This means you were not eligible to receive a grant and will need to repay the money you received.

Please refer to the FAQs below if you need more guidance on what this means.

What you need to do now

Please review your SEISS grant application by 20 November 2020.

If you do not complete either action 1 or 2 outlined below by this date, we may start a formal compliance check. This may mean you have to pay a penalty and statutory interest.

Action 1

If you did not trade in both tax years 2018 to 2019 and 2019 to 2020 and did not intend to continue your trade in 2020 to 2021:

You do not meet the requirements to claim a SEISS grant. You must:

  • Go to gov.UK and search ‘Stopped trading SEISS’.
  • Complete the online form.
  • You do not pay at this point. We will contact you to tell you how to pay what you owe.

Action 2

If you did trade in tax years 2018 to 2019 and 2019 to 2020 and intended to trade in 2020 to 2021:

If you have not stopped trading and believe your SEISS grant was correct, you must:

  • Make sure you are registered for Self-Assessment.
  • Make a return by the filing date. Include SEISS grant as income.
  • Go to gov.UK and search ‘Stopped trading SEISS’.
  • Complete the online form.
  • There is no need to provide evidence, but we may contact you at a later point to verify the information.