Just noticed that the Government's page for the self-employment grants was updated a few days ago, and this is relevant to the discussion earlier (the bit added is in coloured bold).
https://www.gov.uk/guidance/claim-a-gra ... ort-schemeQuote:
Who can claimYou can claim if you’re a self-employed individual or a member of a partnership and you:
• have submitted your Self Assessment tax return for the tax year 2018 to 2019
• traded in the tax year 2019 to 2020
• are trading when you apply, or would be except for coronavirus
• intend to continue to trade in the tax year 2020 to 2021
• have lost trading profits due to coronavirus
You will need to confirm to HMRC that your business has been adversely affected by coronavirus. HMRC will as usual use a risk based approach to compliance. Which I think kind of supports what I've been saying. However, still nothing really to suggest that it'll be other than a box-ticking exercise for the vast majority of applicants.
But the bit about the 'risk-based approach' to compliance maybe suggests that some applicants will have to do slightly more legwork, but what that will entail, precisely, remains to be seen.
But what the 'risk-based approach' amounts to only HMRC will know, precisely.
But, broadly speaking, it'll be along the lines of the usual stuff HMRC looks out for when selecting tax returns for further investigation.