Alf Cook wrote:
I am a london taxi driver but havent worked since lockdown. I was told by a friend that if I dont work befor April next year I will have to pay back the grants given to me by HMRC i check with my accountants who comfirem the it is true, came as a surprise to me. Hope you are all staying safe.
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Pity there's no replies to the post(?)
But as it stands I'd say it's irrelevant. Even as things are now the fact that he simply hasn't *worked* doesn't seem relevant. Maybe if the question was whether he was still *trading*, or whatever, then it would be worth questioning, but all he says is that he hasn't worked, and I can't really see the relevance of that in itself.
But it was 29 weeks ago when it was posted, thus back in July, so that would be before the second grant even paid?
Recall that the orginal conditions stated that you had to "intend to continue to trade in the tax year 2020-21".
So that's probably what he was referring to - at that time I think obviously everyone thought things would be more back to normal by the end of the tax year. And I'm guessing his accountant just told him he should intend trading before end of tax year.
However, back then it did say you had to be "trading when you apply, or would be except for COVID-19".
So I suppose it's slightly different for the current grant, because back then you didn't need to be trading. Now you are supposed to be trading, but precisely what that means for a cab driver I'm not sure
I wouldn't worry about it though, since it's surely unreasonable to expect a driver to work at a loss.
And I think the cab driver's comment on MSE was just about a claimant's intention to continue trading before the end of the tax year when it was assumed things would be back to normal by then.
(His comment does seem a bit odd back in July, though (assuming I'm right with the date). Why would he say that? I'm guessing he just thought it was a point worth mentioning, but at that time it wasn't really of any real relevance, except of course if someone had no intention of ever trading again.)