Skip to main content

This is a news story and may not be up to date. You can find the date it was published above the title. Our Tax Guides feature the latest up-to-date tax information and guidance. 

Published on 8 April 2020

Coronavirus support: What to do if you are self-employed and have not filed your 2018/19 tax return

⚠️ Please note this information is changing rapidly due to information being published by GOV.UK and HMRC – we recommend that you also check our coronavirus guidance for up to date information

tax return 2018-2019 (c) Shutterstock / Paul Maguire
(c) Shutterstock / Paul Maguire

Content on this page:

The Government recently announced the Self-employed Income Support Scheme (SEISS), a support package for the self-employed which will provide financial assistance, to those who meet the conditions, at this extremely difficult time during the Coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak. The starting point to see if you qualify for the scheme is the level of your self-employed profit shown on your 2018/19 tax return.

Most self-employed people will have already filed their Self Assessment tax return for the 2018/19 tax year by the usual filing deadline, 31 January 2020. However, if you have NOT yet filed your 2018/19 return, the Government have said you should do so by 23 April so HMRC can contact you if you are eligible for the SEISS scheme.

Here we provide guidance about what to do if you are self-employed and think you would be eligible for the SEISS but have not submitted your 2018/19 tax return to HMRC.

What is the Self-employed Income Support Scheme (SEISS)?

The SEISS is a taxable grant available to some self-employed people to provide them with financial support during the coronavirus outbreak.

So, if you think you will be eligible for the SEISS but need to get a tax return filed you must do so in the next few weeks. This will be a faster process if you are already registered to submit your tax returns using HMRC online services. If you are not yet registered we recommend that you register now as it can take a couple of weeks to receive your log-in details (see below).

Please note we do not yet know whether late filing penalties will be charged on 2018/19 tax returns submitted after 31 January but by 23 April. Don’t forget upon completion of your 2018/19 tax return there may be tax due - see our guidance on help about paying tax.

I was self-employed during the 2018/19 tax year but did not inform HMRC

You need to register your self-employment now, there are details on how to do this on the self-employed section of our webpage, How do I register for tax and National Insurance? 

Due to the 23 April deadline we recommend that you register online if at all possible, rather than call HMRC or send your registration by post. We understand there can be delays in HMRC answering calls and that most post is not currently being dealt with due to the COVID19 outbreak.

Please note that you will have missed the deadline to register your self-employment with HMRC as you should have informed them by 5 October 2019 so you may be charged a penalty (the penalty position has not yet been confirmed by HMRC). For more information on late registration see our further guidance What happens if I do not register or register late? 

I have not registered to file my tax return online

This may be the case if:

  • you have only submitted paper tax returns before (but not yet for 2018/19) or
  • this is the first year of completing a tax return and you did not register with HMRC using their online services.

As HMRC have not yet confirmed what the position will be with regard to paper tax returns we recommend that wherever possible you file your 2018/19 tax return online. You can register to complete your tax return online by creating a Government Gateway account on GOV.UK, you will need your Unique Taxpayer Reference (UTR) to do this which you should find on previous paper tax returns or correspondence from HMRC.

You will need to wait for your log-in details to be sent to you but in the meantime you can still prepare the information you will need to complete your tax return (see below).

I am registered to file my tax return online but have not prepared my accounts or tax return

It may be the case that you usually have assistance from family or friends to prepare your tax return but you are now unable to get help in time to meet the 23 April deadline. This may make the completion of an online tax return feel like a daunting task however there is a lot of useful information in our self-employment section and we have also produced a Guide to Self-Employment which has a case study showing how someone new to self-employment would prepare their accounts and self-employment pages on their 2018/19 tax return. The guide is available to download here.

Where can I get additional help to complete and file my tax return?

TaxAid is a charity which gives advice on tax matters to those on low incomes. They are providing a dedicated helpline for people who need help understanding the new scheme and their advisers can help you complete your 2018/19 tax return.

HMRC offer e-learning guides for the self-employed and there is help on individual questions when completing your tax return online. HMRC also produce various help sheets which are designed to cover some of the more detailed areas of tax that might be relevant when completing a tax return, we link to the relevant help sheets in our self-employment section and guide.

Back to top