HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) have published the latest policy paper detailing how the fifth and final Self-Employment Income Support Scheme grant will be offered to struggling workers.

According to Business Live, the fifth grant covers the period from May 2021 to September 2021, and claims will open from late July 2021. As with previous SEIS payments, the grant is taxable and will be paid out in a single instalment to eligible claimants.

Guidance for how to claim the final SEISS grant will be made available from later June 2021.

To be an eligible claimant, workers must be self-employed or a member of a partnership. The claimant must have traded in the tax years:

• 2019 to 2020, and have submitted a tax return before 2 March 2021.
• 2020 to 2021.

Claimants must also be either:

• be currently trading but are impacted by reduced demand due to coronavirus
• have been trading but are temporarily unable to do so due to coronavirus.

HMRC makes its decision based on claimants 2019 to 2020 tax return, and if, based on that, they are not eligible, then HMRC will look at tax years 2016 to 2017, 2017 to 2018, 2018 to 2019 and 2019 to 2020.

Claimants must declare that they intend to continue trading, believe that there will be a significant reduction in revenue due to the coronavirus from May 2021 to September 2021, and they must keep evidence that shows how their business has been impacted.

The amount of the fifth grant will be determined by how much the claimant’s turnover has been reduced in the year April 2020 to April 2021.

People whose turnover has fallen by 30 per cent or more will continue to receive the full grant worth 80 per cent of three months’ average trading profits, capped at £7,500. People whose turnover has fallen by less than 30 per cent will receive a 30 per cent grant, capped at £2,850.

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