Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of extending the Self-Employment Income Support Scheme to include people who did not return a self-assessment form before 3 March 2021.
At the Budget on 3 March, the Government announced the details of two further rounds of the Self-Employment Income Support Scheme (SEISS). Alongside this, the Government announced that HMRC will now use 2019-20 tax returns to determine the eligibility and award for the SEISS, provided these returns were submitted by 2 March.
This means that more than 600,000 people, many of whom became self-employed in 2019-20, may now be able to claim the fourth and fifth grants, bringing the total number of people who could be eligible to 3.7 million.
The Government has already given self-employed people more than a month after the statutory deadline to submit their returns without penalty. HMRC waived late filing penalties until 28 February. Self-employed individuals who did not file by 31 January will, where possible, have received a notification from HMRC that their return was late.
Allowing returns submitted on or after the terms and criteria of the SEISS grants were announced on 3 March would create a significant incentive for fraud.