SEISS fifth grant Directions

HMRC has updated its SEISS guidance to cover how to notify errors in amounts claimed under the scheme and how to work out turnover where the taxpayer is a member of a partnership.

Where a taxpayer is a member of partnership, working out turnover for the purposes of the fifth SEISS grant depends on when the taxpayer entered the partnership and whether they have any other businesses. The principles affect the calculation of turnover for the 12-month period starting in April 2020 and also for the reference year, against which any drop in turnover is measured for the purposes of the grant.

If the taxpayer was a member of the same partnership in their reference year and in April 2020 to April 2021, and had no other businesses in either of those years, they will need to work out and use the partnership’s total turnover figure. Where the taxpayer was a member of the same partnership in previous years and also had other businesses during those periods or in the 12-month period from April 2020, they will need to calculate their percentage share of the partnership’s turnover.

The Treasury has updated its Direction covering the fifth grant (dated 5 July 2021) accordingly. The update replaces paras 6.4.2 and 6.4.3 in the original fifth grant Direction which cover the financial impact declaration test (ie whether turnover has dropped by 30% compared to the reference period) for partnerships.