Covid – 19 Guidance

June 16, 2020
8:33 am

Following the unprecedented impact of the coronavirus pandemic on both individuals and businesses around the world, we want to share some help provided by the government, information about the schemes, eligibility, and how to claim:

Staff retention scheme – Furlough

You can claim for 80% of your employees’ wages (even for employees on National Minimum Wage) – up to a maximum of £2,500 per month.

You’ll still need to pay employer National Insurance and pension contributions on behalf of your furloughed employees, and you can claim for these too.

You can choose to top up your employees’ wages, but you do not have to. Employees must not work or provide any services for the business while furloughed, even if they receive a top-up wage.

You can only claim for furloughed employees that were employed on 19 March 2020 and who were on your PAYE payroll on or before 19 March 2020. This means a Real Time Information (RTI) submission notifying payment in respect of that employee to HMRC must have been made on or before 19 March 2020. If you had employees that were employed on 28 February 2020 but not on 19 March 2020.

From 1 July, employers can bring back to work employees that have previously been furloughed for any amount of time and any shift pattern, while still being able to claim the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme grant for their normal hours not worked. When claiming the grant for furloughed hours employers will need to report and claim for a minimum period of a week.

The scheme will close to new entrants from 30 June. From this point onwards, employers will only be able to furlough employees that they have furloughed for a full 3 week period prior to 30 June.

This means that the final date by which an employer needs to agree with their employee and ensure they place them on furlough is 10 June. Employers will have until 31 July to make any claims in respect of the period to 30 June.

See more details from HMRC:

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/check-which-employees-you-can-put-on-furlough-to-use-the-coronavirus-job-retention-scheme

Please contact the office, to guide you through your claim.

This is a free service for existing clients.

VAT payment deferment

If you’re a UK VAT registered business and have a VAT payment due between 20 March 2020 and 30 June 2020, you have the option to:

defer the payment until a later date
pay the VAT due as normal

HMRC will not charge interest or penalties on any amount deferred as a result of the Chancellor’s announcement.

VAT payments you can defer:

quarterly and monthly VAT returns’ payments for the periods ending in February, March and April
payments on account due between 20 March 2020 and 30 June 2020
annual accounting advance payments due between 20 March 2020 and 30 June 2020
The deferral does not cover payments for VAT MOSS or import VAT.

If you choose to defer your VAT payment as a result of coronavirus, you must pay the VAT due on or before 31 March 2021.

You do not need to tell HMRC that you’re deferring your VAT payment.

Payments made by Direct Debit

If you normally pay by Direct Debit you should cancel your Direct Debit through your bank as soon as possible so that HMRC will not automatically collect any VAT due. You can cancel online if you’re registered for online banking.

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/deferral-of-vat-payments-due-to-coronavirus-covid-19

Personal Tax Payment deferment

You have the option to defer your second payment on account if you’re:

registered in the UK for Self Assessment and
finding it difficult to make your second payment on account by 31 July 2020 due to the impact of coronavirus

You can still make the payment by 31 July 2020 as normal if you’re able to do so.

HMRC will not charge interest or penalties on any amount of the deferred payment on account, provided it’s paid on or before 31 January 2021.

If you choose to defer

You do not need to tell HMRC that you’re deferring your payment on account.

Choosing to defer will not stop you from being entitled to other coronavirus support that HMRC provides.

You must make your second payment on account on or before 31 January 2021 if you choose to defer.

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/defer-your-self-assessment-payment-on-account-due-to-coronavirus-covid-19

Business Support Grants

Under the Small Business Grant Fund (SBGF) all businesses in England in receipt of either Small Business Rates Relief (SBRR) or Rural Rates Relief (RRR) in the business rates system will be eligible for a payment of £10,000.

You will to apply via your local council.

Under the Retail, Hospitality and Leisure Grant (RHLG), businesses in England that would have been in receipt of the Expanded Retail Discount (which covers retail, hospitality and leisure) on 11 March with a rateable value of less than £51,000 will be eligible for the following cash grants per property.

Eligible businesses in these sectors with a property that has a rateable value of up to and including £15,000 will receive a grant of £10,000.

Eligible businesses in these sectors with a property that has a rateable value of over

£15,000 and less than £51,000 will receive a grant of £25,000.

Businesses with a rateable value of £51,000 or over are not eligible for this scheme. Businesses which are not ratepayers in the business rates system are not included in this scheme.

Discretionary Business Support Grant

The Discretionary Business Support Grant is for small businesses that have been affected by Covid-19.

The grant is to help businesses cover fixed costs.

There are 3 levels of funding that can be awarded depending on the circumstances of your business.

Grants are available for:

£5,000
£7,500
£10,000

Who can apply:

You can apply for the Discretionary Business Support Grant if you are not eligible for the:

Small Business Grant Fund
Retail, Leisure and Hospitality Fund and

If you are receiving or have applied for the:

Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme
Self-Employed Income Support Scheme

Who can’t apply

You cannot apply for the Discretionary Business Support Grant if you are able to apply for or getting the:

Small Business Grant Fund
Retail, Hospitality and Leisure Grant
Fisheries Response Fund
Domestic Seafood Supply Scheme
Zoos Support Fund
Dairy Hardship Fund

Your business is:

in administration
insolvent or where a striking-off notice has been made
a self-employed individual or business working primarily from home and do not have additional ongoing, fixed building-related costs outside of your residential property

Criteria for eligible businesses

Businesses must be able to meet all the overall grant application criteria to apply.

Meet the specific grant eligibility so we can decide whether you will be awarded a £5,000, £7,500 or £10,000 grant.

Overall grant application criteria

Your business must:

be a private enterprise trading as self-employed/sole trader, partnership or Limited Company
have ongoing, fixed building-related costs
be either a small or micro business (check what this means under the small business definition heading)
have been trading on or before 11 March 2020
be able to demonstrate that it has suffered a fall in income of 50% or more due to the Covid-19 crisis

Please contact your local council for more information and how to apply for the grant.

Self-employed grant

If you’re self-employed or a member of a partnership in the UK and have lost income due to coronavirus, you can claim a grant through the Coronavirus Self-employment Income Support Scheme.

This scheme will allow you to claim a grant worth 80% of your trading profits up to a maximum of £2,500 a month. While the grant will be subject to Income Tax and National Insurance contributions, it does not need to be repaid.

Your trading profits will be calculated based on and average of your last three years of self-assessment tax returns. Your trading profits must also be no more than £50,000 and more than half of your total income.

To qualify, you must be a self-employed individual or a member of a partnership and you must:

have submitted your Self-Assessment tax return for the tax year 2018 to 2019
have traded in the tax year 2019 to 2020
be trading when you apply, or would be trading if not for coronavirus
intend to continue to trade in the tax year 2020 to 2021
have lost trading profits due to coronavirus
be able to prove to HMRC that your business has been adversely affected by coronavirus

Loans

Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CBILS)

The scheme helps small and medium-sized businesses to access loans and other kinds of finance up to £5 million.

The government guarantees 80% of the finance to the lender and pays interest and any fees for the first 12 months.

Eligibility

You can apply for a loan if your business:

is based in the UK
has an annual turnover of up to £45 million

You need to show that your business:

would be viable were it not for the pandemic
has been adversely impacted by the coronavirus

If you want to borrow £30,000 or more, you also need to confirm that your business wasn’t classed as a business in difficulty on 31 December 2019.

Who cannot apply

Businesses from any sector can apply, except:

banks, insurers and reinsurers (but not insurance brokers)
public-sector bodies
state-funded primary and secondary schools

We have a broker that we work with who will guide you through the application, please contact the office for more information.

Bounce back loan Scheme

The Bounce Back Loan Scheme (BBLS) enables smaller businesses to access finance more quickly during the coronavirus outbreak.

The scheme helps small and medium-sized businesses to borrow between £2,000 and up to 25% of their turnover. The maximum loan available is £50,000.

The government guarantees 100% of the loan and there won’t be any fees or interest to pay for the first 12 months. After 12 months the interest rate will be 2.5% a year.