Here are some of the main announcements that the government have made and how they may affect you and your business. We are open and operating business as usual. Please Contact Us if you have any questions and we’ll be happy to assist.
Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme
The government has announced that it will pay up to 80% of wages for workers whose jobs are a risk due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Any employer in the country can apply to HMRC for this grant of up to £2500 per worker per month. This applies to workers under PAYE, not self-employed contractors.
Payments will be backdated to 1st March 2020. The scheme will be open for 3 months.
Support for businesses paying SSP
The government are bringing forward legislation to allow small and medium sized businesses and employers to reclaim statutory sick pay paid for sickness absence due to COVID-19.
You are eligible for the scheme if your business is based in the UK, and your business is a small or medium size with fewer than 250 employees as of 28 February 2020.
Mortgage payment holidays for landlords
The three month mortgage payment holiday has been extended to landlords whose tenants are experiencing financial difficulty and unable to pay their rent due to the coronavirus.
In addition, nobody can be evicted from their home or have their home repossessed during the next 3 months.
After this period landlords and tenants will need to work together to establish an affordable repayment plan.
Deferral of self-assessment payments
Self-employed workers will be able to defer their self-assessment payments, which would be coming due by 31st July 2020, to January 2021.
So if you are self-employed and due to make a payment for self-assessment by 31st July 2020, this payment is now not due until January 2021.
Self-employed workers and statutory sick pay
Self-employed workers can claim universal credit at a rate equivalent to statutory sick pay (£94.25/week), if they are unable to work due to the coronavirus.
VAT
The Chancellor has announced that no business will pay VAT for the next three months, between now and the end of June.
You will still need to charge VAT to customers and calculate the liability, but you will have until the end of the financial year (31st march 2021) to repay the VAT.
Grant for those who claim Small Business Rate Relief
If your business is based in England, occupies a property and already claims Small Business Rate Relief, Rural Rate Relief or tapered relief, you can apply for a one-off grant of £10,000 (increased from the £3,000 previously announced) to help meet your ongoing business costs.
You do not need to do anything to claim this grant, your local authority will write to you if you are eligible.
Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme
This is a temporary scheme delivered by the British Business Bank, primarily to support small and medium sized business to access bank lending and overdrafts.
The government will guarantee up to 80% of each loan, free of charge.
The first 12 months of this finance will be interest free, with the government covering the first 12 months of interest payments.
You should discuss this with your finance provider as soon as possible.
If you have an existing loan with monthly repayments, you may wish to ask for a repayment holiday to help with cash flow.
Time to pay service
If you have missed a tax payment or you might miss your payment due to COVID-19, HMRC have set up a dedicated helpline 0800 0159559
Companies House
If your company has been affected by COVID-19 and you need more time to file with Companies House you can apply to them for an extension.
You must apply for this extension before your filing deadline.
Please note that this is an overview of the announcements made to date and the points we believe are key to our clients. It is not an exhaustive list and is subject to change on a daily basis with further announcements expected from the government. HMRC have more information on the links below:
We are open and operating business as usual. Please Contact Us if you have any questions and we’ll be happy to assist.