Taxi Driver Online

This is the official UK Government statement on the crisis grants available to self-employed drivers.

Note that despite the title mentioning 'claim a grant', you don't have to do anything at this stage. As stated further down, HMRC will contact you automatically in due course, and you will then have to complete an online form to claim the grant. (Or at least HMRC will contact you if you're registered as self-employed with them )


Claim a grant through the coronavirus (COVID-19) Self-employment Income Support Scheme

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/claim-a-gra ... ort-scheme

Use this scheme if you're self-employed or a member of a partnership and have lost income due to coronavirus.

Published 26 March 2020

From: HM Revenue & Customs

Contents

— Who can apply
— How much you’ll get
— How to apply
— After you’ve applied
— Other help you can get

This scheme will allow you to claim a taxable grant worth 80% of your trading profits up to a maximum of £2,500 per month for the next 3 months. This may be extended if needed.

Who can apply

You can apply if you’re a self-employed individual or a member of a partnership and you:

• have submitted your Income Tax Self Assessment tax return for the tax year 2018-19
• traded in the tax year 2019-20
• are trading when you apply, or would be except for COVID-19
• intend to continue to trade in the tax year 2020-21
• have lost trading/partnership trading profits due to COVID-19

Your self-employed trading profits must also be less than £50,000 and more than half of your income come from self-employment. This is determined by at least one of the following conditions being true:

• having trading profits/partnership trading profits in 2018-19 of less than £50,000 and these profits constitute more than half of your total taxable income
• having average trading profits in 2016-17, 2017-18, and 2018-19 of less than £50,000 and these profits constitute more than half of your average taxable income in the same period

If you started trading between 2016-19, HMRC will only use those years for which you filed a Self-Assessment tax return.

If you have not submitted your Income Tax Self-Assessment tax return for the tax year 2018-19, you must do this by 23 April 2020.

HMRC will use data on 2018-19 returns already submitted to identify those eligible and will risk assess any late returns filed before the 23 April 2020 deadline in the usual way.

How much you’ll get

You’ll get a taxable grant which will be 80% of the average profits from the tax years (where applicable):

• 2016 to 2017
• 2017 to 2018
• 2018 to 2019

To work out the average HMRC will add together the total trading profit for the 3 tax years (where applicable) then divide by 3 (where applicable), and use this to calculate a monthly amount.

It will be up to a maximum of £2,500 per month for 3 months.

We’ll pay the grant directly into your bank account, in one instalment.

How to apply

You cannot apply for this scheme yet.

HMRC will contact you if you are eligible for the scheme and invite you to apply online.

Individuals do not need to contact HMRC now and doing so will only delay the urgent work being undertaken to introduce the scheme.

You will access this scheme only through GOV.UK. If someone texts, calls or emails claiming to be from HMRC, saying that you can claim financial help or are owed a tax refund, and asks you to click on a link or to give information such as your name, credit card or bank details, it is a scam.

After you’ve applied

Once HMRC has received your claim and you are eligible for the grant, we will contact you to tell you how much you will get and the payment details.

If you claim tax credits you’ll need to include the grant in your claim as income.

Other help you can get

The government is also providing the following additional help for the self-employed:

• deferral of Self Assessment income tax payments due in July 2020 and VAT payments due from 20 March 2020 until 30 June 2020
• grants for businesses that pay little or no business rates
• increased amounts of Universal Credit
• Business Interruption Loan Scheme

If you’re a director of your own company and paid through PAYE you may be able to get support using the Job Retention Scheme.


Published 26 March 2020

That last condition is quite interesting - I wonder what proof HMRC will require to demonstrate that you've lost income and that it's due to Covid-19?

Of course, for the vast majority of drivers in the trade, it will be self-evident that they've lost income due to Covid-19, it's just a question of how much.

But say you're a high-earning professional, with taxable profits of £48,000 per annum, say.

That's £4,000 a month. So suppose you only lost 10% in profits over the three months, so that's £1,200 in total. Yet you'd get a £7,500 grant

In fact you might only lose a few hundred pounds in profit yet be eligible for £7,500 in grants. Of course, HMRC will claw a lot of it back eventually as the grant is taxable, but still...

And how would a self-employed computer programmer (say) prove that a 5% loss in profits (say) was due to Covid-19?

Interesting

It says UP TO 80%

I would imagine if your a hairdresser that's closed down you will get 80% if your a cabbie that is struggling to earn £100 a week you might get 50 percent

The money will also have to be included in your accounts as taxable income

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Taxis Are Public Transport too

Join the campaign to get April fools jokes banned for 364 days a year !

But if HMRC are basing it on the three previous tax years (2016 through 2019) then your pittance of an income from march to June 2020 is pretty much an irrelevance to their calculations, I'd reckon they would wait until the next tax year and then check to ensure that your March to June 2020 totals were as bad as you stated they were and if you'd told a few porkies they would try and claw it back.

It Doesnt say up to 80%..it says:


This scheme will allow you to claim a taxable grant worth 80% of your trading profits up to a maximum of £2,500 per month for the next 3 months. This may be extended if needed.

Where does it say that?

As Blood says, the percentage is fixed at 80%. The only limit is the sum granted, which is £2,500 per month:


A grant of £2,500 per month @ 80% equates to annual taxable profits of £37,500. Doubt if many individual owner drivers or renters will be earning more than that, so in effect for grassroots drivers the grant will be fixed at 80% of taxable profits for three months.


Indeed, but you could end up earning more than normal because of the grant, assuming your income hasn't suffered too badly, thus only fair you pay tax on it.

And if you can't work at all or your income from taxiing is negligible then obviously you'll be declaring less income than usual, thus paying less tax.

It's not perfect, but in the grand scheme of things it seems very generous, especially if your income doesn't drop significantly anyway.

I'm quite happy with it, assuming I get it. Only problem is having to wait for a lump sum in June, but it's a lot better than nothing at all, or relying on benefits. And claiming it looks like it'll be relatively straightforward, unlike claiming benefits

If your (sic) a cabbie that is “struggling “ to “earn” a hundred pounds a week, you’ll be better off on universal credit. And a liar to boot.

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Former taxi driver

If anyone from admin reading, any chance this can be pinned?

This is the official Government chapter and verse version of the Covid-19 grants for the self-employed

As the employed payout has been extended to four months, one has to wonder if the self-employed version will be as well.

Can't see why it shouldn't be, and no doubt any extension will be most welcomed by the taxi/PH trade.

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IDFIMH

I may be getting a temporary job soon and become an employee for the first time in 26 years so I assume I will only get 1 months worth of the said grant,correct?

Not sure, but wouldn't be surprised if you get three (or maybe four) months worth.

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IDFIMH

As Sussex suggests, I suspect you'll get either get the whole three months, or nothing at all

If you've been working as a driver for a few years, have had no other significant source of income in that time, and declared profits are less than £50k per year then it should be a formality.

As far as I can see, income from another job would only be relevant if it had been more than half your taxable income in your last three tax returns. From what you've said on here I'm assuming that's not the case, so if you become an employee in the near future it's irrelevant to the grant.

The only possible problem I can see is that if you aren't intending to trade during this tax year (ie during the year from 6 April 2020 to 5 April 2021) then you won't be eligible for the grant. But you say the job is temporary, and you presumably still have your cab, and will get back in the saddle once things get back to normal. So that means you do intend trading during this tax year, so I can't see how being a temporary employee in the meantime would be relevant.

On the other hand, if you took another job, sold your cab and intended to jack the taxi trade in completely then you wouldn't be eligible for anything.

I suspect lots of drivers will be eligible for grants of around £3-5,000 (assuming they've been reasonably honest about what they've been earning in their tax return), so it's a lot of money to perhaps miss out on. So if you're worried about it then you could maybe try asking HMRC, although it's presumably difficult to get through to them at the moment. Or even ask your accountant if you use one.

As with the rest of it, I'm not sure precisely how it will all be done. But if you become registered as a PAYE employee shortly then this will probably be flagged up to HMRC when you claim the self-employment grant. As I said, though, I don't think it's relevant to your eligibility for the grant, but it could mean that HMRC more likely to ask you to demonstrate to them that you intend continuing to trade as a cab driver. Which, as per what I said earlier, shouldn't be difficult if your genuine intention is to return to the trade, but just something to bear in mind.

Yes the job is only temporary (but you never know). I'm keeping the cab ,I've only got 1 year to pay on it then 2years before retirement . I won't be buying a 60K hybrid.

Well I can't see how you shouldn't be eligible for the whole three months. But in any contact with HMRC I'd emphasise that the job is temporary and that you still have your cab and intend returning to the trade - don't even suggest 'you never know' about the temporary aspect of the job at the moment.

But I suspect that when we have to apply in mid-May then it will just be a simple form-filling/box-ticking exercise, and that any questions will come later.

And because you'll become registered as a PAYE employee with HMRC then I suspect they're more likely to contact you in future for, er, further information.

Maybe I'm missing something, though, so out of interest why did you think you'd only be eligible for one month of the grant if you took a temporary job at this stage?

Just had a quick look at the Government's page, and it's been updated, and I think this may be relevant to Ray:


Unfortunately that's to be as much detail as there is, so not really a great deal of help, although kind of confirms what I said above.

But I think it underlines that you either get the three months' worth of grant, or you get nothing at all