Today, 4th May 2020, HMRC have announced that the Self-employed cannot ask their Accountant to make the claim on their behalf. Self employed individuals have to make the claim themselves.

To make the claim you need to have a government gateway account. So if you do not have a government gateway account, we would strongly suggest that you set it up now. It is easy to do but we are always here to help if you get stuck.

Full details are here:
https://www.gov.uk/guidance/claim-a-grant-through-the-coronavirus-covid-19-self-employment-income-support-scheme#claim

You will need your self assessment UTR number and your national insurance number, and then you can set up the government gateway user ID and password, and of course your bank account number and sort code that you want HMRC to pay the grant into.

Once you have submitted your claim, you will be told straight away if your grant is approved. HMRC advise that the grant will be paid into your bank account within six working days.

Be careful, though, because there are lots of scams going round in this regard.

If you receive texts, calls or emails claiming to be from HMRC, offering financial help or a tax refund and asking you to click on a link or to give personal information, it is a scam. You should email it to phishing@hmrc.gov.uk and then delete it.

Some clients have already received an email from HMRC with a link asking them to enter their UTR number. It seems that HMRC will contact them again on 14th May with details about the grant and how to claim it.

If you are self employed, and have a PAYE scheme set up for employees, you may already have a personal tax account, as the CJRS claims could be claimed through the personal tax account. If you think you may have already got a personal tax account set up, but cannot find your log on details, drop us an email.