On Thursday 26 March the Chancellor announced the Coronavirus Self-employment Income Support Scheme to provide financial support for the self-employed and members of partnerships in the form of a taxable cash grant in the fight against covid-19. Here we assess the key measures and eligibility criteria

Due to measures put in place to stop the spread of coronavirus, HMRC has temporarily changed the way it deals with stamp duty payments on shares bought on a stock transfer form, and will no longer accept cheques

Chancellor Rishi Sunak has unveiled a £9bn package of support for self employed taxpayers and members of partnerships, Self-Employed Income Support Scheme, affected by the coronavirus epidemic which he said was equivalent to the furlough scheme for those paid via PAYE, and has indicated that future tax policy may need to change to reflect this equivalence

The financial job grants offered under the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme pays up to 80% of salary for temporarily laid off workers, but there are important legal and contractual issues to consider. Croner-i's Nicola Mullineux explains

The Coronavirus Bill has received Royal Assent and is now in statute, setting out the bare details about the plans for a support package for the self employed, with detail to follow in tonight's televised briefing by the Chancellor

HMRC has changed the dedicated phone number for the coronavirus helpline targeted at businesses and the self employed to 0800 024 1222 to increase load capacity, reports Sara White

Businesses planning to use the three-month VAT payment deferral need to cancel their direct debits to ensure payments are not automatically deducted

The Chancellor, Rishi Sunak, will detail plans for financial support for the self employed at the daily briefing this evening, with the likelihood of an averaging scheme to reflect variable earnings

Overwhelming demand from business means that HMRC is working on plans to deploy more staff to the business and self-employed coronavirus helpline to meet escalating demand for advice while at the same time it is dealing with the wider impact of covid-19 on its own staff

The US Treasury Department and Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has confirmed that the federal income tax filing deadline has been automatically extended by three months to 15 July 2020, although there are exemptions including no deferral for the 2017 one-off ‘repatriation tax’, reports Sara White

The government has announced that estate agents, lettings agencies and bingo halls that have closed as a result of covid-19 measures to restrict the spread of the virus will be now be exempted from business rates in 2020-21

The government's quick response to the covid-19 crisis could also be a drawback as ‘policies are going to be rough around the edges’ and possibly left open to exploitation by scammers and unscrupulous advisers and accountants