Reasonable belief

In order to claim, you must believe that you will suffer a reduction in trading profits due to a reduction in business activity, capacity or demand or the fact you were not able to trade due to coronavirus during the period 1 November to 29 January 2021. You will need to keep all the evidence that shows how your business has been impacted.

Basically, if you intend to keep trading even though no money is coming in and its because of Covid, you can claim.

Significant reduction

Before you make a claim, you must decide if the impact on your business will cause a reduction in your trading profits for the tax year you report them in.

You will need to make this decision yourself because your individual and wider business circumstances will need to be considered when deciding whether the reduction is significant.

It is best to wait until you have a reasonable belief that your trading profits are going to be significantly reduced before you make your claim.

So in essence, you must be able to state your case to the HMRC. My business is taking less money due to Covid 19.