Friday 13 November 2020

13th November 2020 – Hillmans Weekly Update


I hope you are keeping safe and well.

13th November 2020 – Hillmans Weekly Update

 

Below I have summarised all the main tax related updates we have seen this week.

 

·         North Somerset Local Restrictions Support Grant – Applications Open from Friday 13th November

·         HMRC Published Details of the Extended Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme

·         The Future Fund

·         Information for farmers, landowners and rural businesses form the Rural Payments Agency (RPA)

·         The Marine Management Organisation (MMO) fast-tracks grants to help England’s ports and fishing industry

 

If you have any queries about this week’s content, or if you need any assistance please do not hesitate to contact me.

 

I hope you have a good weekend.

 

Stay safe and well.

 

Kind regards,

 

Steve

 

Steven Hillman BSc (Hons) ACA

Chartered Accountant

Tel: 01934 444100

https://www.hillmans.co.uk/covid-19-updates

 

North Somerset Local Restrictions Support Grant – Applications Open from Friday 13th November

The application process for the North Somerset Local Restrictions Support Grant is set to open from Friday 13th November.

 

To support businesses during the national restrictions which began on Thursday 5 November, two new grant schemes have been introduced.

 

The first is the Local Restrictions Support Grant which is for businesses that pay business rates and have been instructed to close by the Government.

 

The second is the Additional Restrictions Grant which is designed to support closed non-rated businesses or businesses that are severely impacted that require support in local areas. This scheme is discretionary.

 

What you will get

 

Local Restrictions Support Grants will be based on the rateable value of the property as it was on Thursday 5 November. The grant will be paid for the period of Thursday 5 November to Wednesday 2 December.

 

If your business is eligible and a property with a rateable value of £15,000 or less, you will receive a one-off cash grant of £1,334.

 

If your business is eligible and a property with a rateable value of £15,001 to £50,999, you will receive a one-off cash grant of £2,000.

 

If your business is eligible and a property with a rateable value of £51,000 or more, you will receive a one-off cash grant of £3,000.

 

How to Apply

 

 

We are advised that applications for the Local Restrictions Support Grant will be accepted from or soon after Friday 13 November.

 

Visit the following website for more information and to apply:

 

http://www.n-somerset.gov.uk/my-services/community-safety-crime/emergency-management/covid-19-north-somerset-together/information-organisations-businesses-groups/national-restrictions-support-grant-businesses

 

Additional Restrictions Grant

 

The Additional Restrictions Grant is for businesses that have been severely impacted by the national restrictions that came into force on Thursday 5 November and are not eligible for the Local Restrictions Support Grant.

 

To be eligible your business must have been open as usual on the day before restrictions came into effect, has 49 employees or less and either:

 

·         you are not a business rates payer of the business you trade from or occupy and are required to close – this includes businesses registered for Council Tax

·         your business is not required to close but has closed due to a significant impact on trading

·         your business is continuing to operate but with significantly reduced demand due to social distancing rules

 

What you will get

 

Grants will mainly – but not exclusively – be based on the number of employees.

 

Businesses with 10 or less employees will get up to £1,000.

 

Businesses with between 11 and 49 employees will get up to £1,500.

 

How to Apply

 

We are advised that applications for the Additional Restrictions Grant will be accepted from or soon after Friday 13 November.

 

Visit the following website for more information and to apply:

 

http://www.n-somerset.gov.uk/my-services/community-safety-crime/emergency-management/covid-19-north-somerset-together/information-organisations-businesses-groups/national-restrictions-support-grant-businesses


HMRC Published Details of the Extended Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme

HMRC has published details of the Extended Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme:

 

The key facts are:

 

- The CJRS is being extended until 31 March 2021.

- The government will review the scheme in January 2021.

- 30 November 2020 is the last day employers can submit or change claims for periods ending on or before 31 October 2020.

- The CJRS will remain open until 31 March 2021. From 1 November 2020 employers can claim 80% of an employee’s usual salary for hours not worked, up to a maximum of £2,500 per month.

- Employers can claim for employees who were employed on 30 October 2020, as long as they have made a PAYE RTI submission to HMRC between the 20 March 2020 and 30 October 2020, notifying a payment of earnings for that employee. This may differ where they have re-employed an employee after 23 September 2020.

- All employers with a UK bank account and UK PAYE schemes can claim the grant.

- They do not need to have previously claimed for an employee before the 30 October 2020 to claim for periods from 1 November 2020.

- Employers can furlough employees for any amount of time and any work pattern, while still being able to claim the grant for the hours not worked.

- Employers might need to contribute towards the cost of their furloughed employees’ wages for these periods.

- For periods from 1 November 2020, they will need to pay for the cost of employer NICs and pension costs.

 

We've put together a blog post with more information on the extended CJRS here: https://blog.hillmans.co.uk/2020/11/hmrc-published-details-of-extended.html

 

The Future Fund

The Future Fund scheme will issue convertible loans between £125,000 to £5 million to innovative companies which are facing financing difficulties due to the coronavirus outbreak.

 

The Future Fund provides government loans to UK-based companies ranging from £125,000 to £5 million, subject to at least equal match funding from private investors.

 

These convertible loans may be an option for businesses that rely on equity investment and are unable to access other government business support programmes because they are either pre-revenue or pre-profit.

 

The scheme is open for applications until 31 January 2021.

 

A business is eligible if:

 

·         it is UK-incorporated - if your business is part of a corporate group, only the parent company is eligible

·         it has raised at least £250,000 in equity investment from third-party investors in the last 5 years

·         none of its shares are traded on a regulated market, multilateral trading facility or other listing venue

·         it was incorporated on or before 31 December 2019

·         at least one of the following is true:

o   half or more employees are UK-based

 

o   half or more revenues are from UK sales

 

See: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/future-fund

 

Information for farmers, landowners and rural businesses form the Rural Payments Agency (RPA)

As National restrictions apply from the 5th November in England, RPA confirm they are continuing to deliver the range of services to agricultural and rural communities across the country while the majority of their people work from home.

 

Following government guidance, RPA inspectors will continue with most inspection work to ensure that they meet regulatory targets and do not cause any delay to payments. They will continue to follow COVID-19 Secure health and safety procedures (including social distancing and other approaches to reduce face to face contact) that they put in place earlier in the year.

 

See: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/coronavirus-covid-19-information-for-farmers-landowners-and-rural-businesses

 

The Marine Management Organisation (MMO) fast-tracks grants to help England’s ports and fishing industry

The Marine Management Organisation (MMO) is inviting applications for grants to help ports or harbours impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic and to provide health and safety equipment for fishing vessel owners.

 

MMO has re-purposed the balance of the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund (EMFF) and allocated £500,000 to projects for ports or harbours and £300,000 to fishing vessel owners or licence holders for health and safety improvements.

 

Grants of up to £100,000 each are available for existing projects that are aimed at mitigating impacts of Covid-19 at ports and harbours and bringing benefits to the local area. Applications will be assessed and judged on a competitive basis with grants awarded to those best meeting the criteria and aims of this fund. The closing date for fully formed applications including all required documentation is 29 November 2020.

 

Awards of up to £50,000 each are available for health and safety improvements on board fishing vessels. This fund is open now and applications will be assessed and awarded on individual merit as and when they are received, until the fund is fully committed. The fund criteria is available here. Applicants are asked to note that their requests will only be considered once all the required documentation is received. Incomplete applications will be returned to the applicant for resubmission.

 

See: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/the-marine-management-organisation-mmo-fast-tracks-grants-to-help-englands-ports-and-fishing-industry

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