[applefruitcake]

Hello,

I'm new to the forum, I apologise if this question has been asked before but I couldn't find anything similar. We would like to apply for a spouse visa. On the Gov website, this is the following information they have regarding self-employment and corona virus - 'a loss of income during the period of 1st March 2020 to 31st May 2021 will be disregarded.' Does anyone know what this could mean? I am self-employed and did suffer a loss of income during this period, does this mean that I would need to provide additional evidence for a previous period or would only the current financial year be sufficient? I have emailed their Corona virus help team but they just replied with the exact same link, no extra information. I will appreciate your help. Thank you in advance.

 

[applefruitcake]

Sorry, I didn't provide context. This is the exact quote from the gov website "Changes to the minimum income and adequate maintenance requirement
If you’ve experienced a loss of income due to coronavirus up to 31 May 2021, we will consider employment income for the period immediately before the loss of income, provided the minimum income requirement was met for at least 6 months immediately before the date the income was lost.

If your salary has reduced because you’re furloughed we will take account of your income as though you’re earning 100% of your salary.

If you’re self-employed, a loss of annual income due to coronavirus between 1 March 2020 and 31 May 2021 will usually be disregarded, along with the impact on employment income from the same period for future applications"

 

[clever-octopus]

If you're self-employed, you should still provide documentation for the last full financial business year. Using the period immediately before loss of income only applies to employment (not self-employment)

Is it feasible for you to use Category G (average of last 2 financial years)? I would think this would be prudent if covid has impacted your business for the entirety of the last full financial year (thus it won't show what your "normal" income looks like)

I imagine you have considered using cash savings and/or spouse's income as well?

 

[applefruitcake]

If you're self-employed, you should still provide documentation for the last full financial business year. Using the period immediately before loss of income only applies to employment (not self-employment)

Is it feasible for you to use Category G (average of last 2 financial years)? I would think this would be prudent if covid has impacted your business for the entirety of the last full financial year (thus it won't show what your "normal" income looks like)

I imagine you have considered using cash savings and/or spouse's income as well?

Thanks a lot for your help! Using category G would be a bit difficult as my business was only registered with HMRC in mid 2019 which means I will only have 1 full financial year, before that I was previously in employment. As far as I have read, it is not possible to combine cash savings with the self-employment route? It is only possible to use just cash savings, but that would be over £60,000 which is not possible for us.

 

[clever-octopus]

Right, you would need £62,500 in cash savings because it can't be combined with self-employment income, but you could use both of your savings combined.

It's not a requirement that your business was in operation for 2 full financial business years for Category G, they just take an average of what was earned over the last 2 years. But I'm guessing that may still be difficult if you are combining a year's worth of covid-impacted income with only half a year of "full" business income.

Has your business been earning anything at all since March of last year, or is it totally on hold? As I understand it, "loss of income" means lower income than normal but business still technically needs to be in operation, so (as you note in your original post) you would need some period of pre-covid income to compare it to, which is why I suggest using Cat G

 

[applefruitcake]

Right, you would need £62,500 in cash savings because it can't be combined with self-employment income, but you could use both of your savings combined.

It's not a requirement that your business was in operation for 2 full financial business years for Category G, they just take an average of what was earned over the last 2 years. But I'm guessing that may still be difficult if you are combining a year's worth of covid-impacted income with only half a year of "full" business income.

Has your business been earning anything at all since March of last year, or is it totally on hold? As I understand it, "loss of income" means lower income than normal but business still technically needs to be in operation, so (as you note in your original post) you would need some period of pre-covid income to compare it to, which is why I suggest using Cat G

Thank you for the additional information. Yes, the business is still functioning throughout this period. The business is registered with HMRC, in April I will have two full financial years (although the first is combined with employment) declared with relevant taxes paid etc. I have evidence of earnings above the financial threshold etc. The problem I am worried could occur is with my bank statements. I don't have a separate business / personal account (which in hindsight was a big mistake) which makes it really difficult to distinguish which is personal spending vs. Business expenses. So my bank statements make my financial situation look much worse than it actually is. Obviously I have my accounts up to date showing profits, expenses etc. I just don't know how they will look at it from their point of view.

I don't think the category G option would help much actually. The savings option is not feasible for us, the threshold is just too high.