Did you commence self-employment during 2019/2020?
Do you need to claim the extended self-employment income support scheme (SEISS), which ends on 30 September 2021, because your business has been affected by COVID?
If so you will be required to complete a new verification process and prove to HMRC that you have been trading.
The first stage of the verification process is that you will receive a letter from HMRC anytime up until mid-April, which will advise you that HMRC will be telephoning you within 10 working days.
During the telephone call you will be asked to confirm your e-mail address and also confirm that you are happy to use a drop box, a link to which will be provided by HMRC by e-mail. You will then be required to upload one form of identification and 3 months worth of bank statements to prove that you have been trading. This has to be done within 2 days, as after this time the link will no longer be valid, and I assume that you will need to contact HMRC to get a new link.
If you do receive a letter but do not complete the checks you will not be able to claim the grants.
There is the possibility that you may receive a phone call from HMRC before you receive the letter, and this has cause some concern as how will people know that the phone call is not a scam. HMRC have been asked to address this issue but at the time of writing this blog we are still waiting for guidance.
A copy of the letter being issued by HMRC can be found here
It is therefore important that the newly self-employed ensure that HMRC have the correct contact details for them otherwise HMRC will not be able to contact them about their grant and they may potentially lose out. You can update your details via your personal tax account.