Reporting Covid-19 Support Payments on your tax return

If you are self-employed and you received Covid-19 support payments during the pandemic, you may need to report these on your self-assessment tax return.

If you are an employee and you were furloughed and received furlough grants under the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme, these were liable to tax under PAYE and liable to National Insurance as for normal salary and wages payments and are included in the figure on your P60.

Grants under the Self-Employment Income Support Scheme

If you received a grant from HMRC under the Self-Employment Income Support Scheme (SEISS), you will need to report this in the dedicated Self-Employment Income Support Grant box on the self-assessment return. The exact reporting mechanism will depend on whether you complete the full self-employment pages (SA103S) or the short pages (SA103S). If you are a member of a partnership, you will need to report the grants on the relevant partnership pages.

SEISS grants are taxable in the tax year in which they are received. This rule applies regardless of the period to which you prepare your accounts. Consequently, grants received between 6 April 2020 and 5 April 2021 (Grants 1, 2 and 3) will need to go on the 2020/21 self-assessment tax return.

If you complete the short self-employment pages, your SEISS grants should be entered in box 27.1. If you complete the full self-employment pages, your SEISS grants should be entered in box 70.1.

Other taxable support payments

If you received other taxable Covid-19 support payments, these too will need to be reported on your 2020/21 self-assessment tax return. This may include Coronavirus Business Support Grants from your local authority or devolved Administration, such as those payable under the Small Business Grant Fund, the Retail, Hospitality and Leisure Grant Fund and the Local Authority Discretionary Grant Fund, or payments under the Eat Out To Help Out Scheme. Test and trace self-isolation payments are also taxable, and need to be reported too.

If you complete the short self-employment pages, taxable Covid-19 payments other than SEISS grants, are reported in box 10, while on the full self-employment pages, the relevant box is box 16.

Payments that do not need to be reported

Money received from loans, such as loans made under the Bounce Back Loan Scheme or other Coronavirus loan schemes does not need to be reported on your tax return. Likewise, you do not need to report any welfare payments received from the council, such as council tax payments or housing benefit.

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