Update on Government Supports – Covid19

The Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS)

The HMRC application portal opened on the 20th April for organisations to submit details of Furloughed employees. On the first day the website was very slow, but this seems to have settled down. There have been several issues uploading the data to the portal especially with overtime and bonuses, Furlough periods, part time and higher paid employees and employers being registered to use the portal.

Please contact us if you need help in these areas. What is clear is that this is a time-consuming process as you must upload data for each individual employee, so our advice is be patient and understand thousands of entities are all trying to upload data at the same time. Talk to us before you make an application if you have any queries about eligibility or would like an estimate of the claim.

Self-employment Income Support Scheme (SEISS)

The online service to make a claim is not available yet. HMRC will aim to contact you by mid May 2020 and if you are eligible will make payments by early June 2020. We have a spreadsheet calculator to help see if you qualify and estimate your claim. Contact us if you would like to know.

Business rates relief and Small business rate relief

Rates relief is handled differently in Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland. We are now seeing Councils paying the Grants to organisations. If you have not been contacted by your local council go on their website and Register for Grant support. Typically, you will be asked which Grant you are applying for and your business details.

VAT and Self-Assessment tax deferral

UK VAT registered organisations that 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 or pay the VAT due as normal. This does not cover payments for VAT MOSS or import VAT. HMRC will not charge interest or penalties on any amount deferred. Several clients have taken advantage of the deferral and cancelled their DD with HMRC.

The next deadline for self-assessment tax is 31 July for your second payment on account. You can delay making the payment and you will have until 31 January 2021 to pay it. Remember these amounts will have to be paid in the future so if you are in any doubt, talk to us.

Coronavirus Business Interruption Loans (CBILS)

UK based small and medium-sized business can apply for an interest-free loan of up to £5m. This scheme has faced severe criticism and has been revamped in the last weeks. It was described by the Governor of the Bank of England as being “Too complicated” and banks are now responding.

£2.8bn of loans have been agreed compared with the £1.1bn approved up to mid April and banks are wading through a large backlog. Only 16,624 applications have been approved out of 36,000.

The process requires past, current, and future financial information including projections. Talk to us if you want help in securing finance under this scheme.

Business Bounce Back Loan

This scheme will help small and medium-sized businesses affected by coronavirus (COVID-19) to apply for loans of up to £50,000.

This scheme is not available yet. It will launch on 4 May 2020.

The Bounce Back Loan scheme will help small and medium-sized businesses to borrow between £2,000 and £50,000 or a maximum of 25% of business turnover.

The government will guarantee 100% of the loan and there won’t be any fees or interest to pay for the first 12 months. Loan terms will be up to 6 years. No repayments will be due during the first 12 months. See our guide in our Hub on the website.

Other Government supports

There are other Government supports for large businesses, exporters and the regions of Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland. Contact us for further information.