Please see our latest post for JobKeeper information.
Under the JobKeeper Payment, businesses impacted by COVID-19 will be able to access a subsidy from the Government to continue paying their employees. Affected employers will be able to claim a fortnightly payment of $1,500 per eligible employee from 30 March 2020, for a maximum period of 6 months. The first payment will be made via the ATO from 1 May 2020 and can be backdated to 30 March 2020.
Employers will be eligible for the subsidy if:
- On 1 March 2020, you carried on a business in Australia;
- You employed at least one eligible employee on 1 March 2020;
- Your eligible employees are currently employed by your business for the fortnights you claim for (including those who are stood down or re-hired);
- Your business has faced a:
- 30% fall in turnover (for an aggregated turnover of $1 billion or less)
- 50% fall in turnover (for an aggregated turnover of more than $1 billion), or
- 15% fall in turnover (for ACNC-registered charities other than universities and schools).
- Your business is not in one of the ineligible categories
Employees are eligible if they:
- are currently employed by the eligible employer (including those stood down or re-hired after employment had ceased from 1 March 2020);
- were employed by the employer at 1 March 2020;
- are full-time, part-time, or long-term casuals (a casual employed on a regular basis for longer than 12 months as at 1 March 2020);
- are at least 16 years of age;
- are an Australian citizen, the holder of a permanent visa, a Protected Special Category Visa Holder, a non-protected Special Category Visa Holder who has been residing continually in Australia for 10 years or more, or a Special Category (Subclass 444) Visa Holder;
- were not in receipt of any of these payments during the JobKeeper fortnight:
- government parental leave or Dad and partner pay;
- a payment in accordance with Australian worker compensation law for an individual’s total incapacity for work; and
- are not in receipt of a JobKeeper Payment from another employer, and agree to be nominated by you (see Nominating employees).
If an employee receives the JobKeeper Payment, this may affect their eligibility for payments from Services Australia as they must report their JobKeeper Payment as income.
Other businesses in the form of a company, trust or partnership can also qualify for JobKeeper payments where a business owner (a shareholder, adult beneficiary or partner) is actively engaged in the business, or a director is actively engaged in the business. In this situation, they are referred to as an ‘eligible business participant’. This is limited to one entitlement for each entity even if there are multiple business owners or participants.
All JobKeeper payments are assessable income of the business that is eligible to receive the payments. The normal rules for deductibility apply in respect of the amounts a business pays to its employees where those amounts are subsidised by the JobKeeper payment.
The JobKeeper payment is not subject to GST.
New rules are being introduced by the government with the intention to not require super guarantee to be paid on additional payments that are made to employees as a result of JobKeeper payments. We will update this information once legislation is in place.
What Do You Need To Do:
- Register your interest and subscribe for JobKeeper payment updates.
- Review your eligibility as an employer or as an eligible business participant.
- Determine your fall in turnover for the first fortnight starting 30 March 2020. To work out your fall in turnover, you can compare either:
- GST turnover for March 2020 with GST turnover for March 2019;
- projected GST turnover for April 2020 with GST turnover for April 2019;
- projected GST turnover for the quarter starting April 2020 with GST turnover for the quarter starting April 2019.
If you work out that you qualify for the JobKeeper payments for the first fortnight because your turnover has declined by the relevant amount, you remain eligible and do not need to keep testing turnover in following months. However, you will have ongoing monthly reporting requirements. If you do not qualify for the JobKeeper payments for the first fortnight, you can re-test at a later date to see if you have met the turnover fall requirements.
- Check whether your employees are eligible.
- Notify each eligible employee that you intend to nominate them as eligible employees under the JobKeeper scheme. They must agree to be nominated by you by completing the JobKeeper employee nomination notice and returning it to you for your records. Eligible business participants must also complete a nomination notice. Sole traders can do so via the Business Portal or via myGov. A partner in a partnership, adult beneficiary of a trust, or a shareholder in or director of a company must complete a physical copy of the Eligible business participant nomination notice (excluding sole traders)..
- If you meet the eligibility criteria and want to start claiming the JobKeeper payment on behalf of your employees, you need to start paying them at least $1,500 per fortnight (before tax), deduct the appropriate PAYG withholding amounts, and continue to pay them for as long as you keep claiming. If you wish to claim from 30 March 2020, you need to ensure each eligible employee has been paid at least $1,500 before tax for each fortnight from this date. If you haven’t yet paid them for this period, you have until the end of April to make a catch up payment. After this date, there can be no backdating of payments.
- Enrol for the JobKeeper payment from 20 April 2020 using the Business Portal. We are able to enrol on your behalf if you do not have access to the Business Portal.
- You must do this by the end of April to claim JobKeeper payments for April.
- In the online form, provide your bank details and indicate if you are claiming an entitlement based on business participation, for example if you are a sole trader.
- Specify the estimated number of employees who will be eligible for the first JobKeeper fortnight (30 March – 12 April) and the second JobKeeper fortnight (13 April – 26 April).
- Confirm the eligible employees who will claim the JobKeeper Payment from 4 May 2020 onwards via the Business Portal. You will need to re-confirm your reported eligible employees each month, and provide some information relating to your current and projected turnover. This will be done in your monthly JobKeeper Declaration report.
Should you have any questions in relation to the JobKeeper payment, or require our assistance during any part of the process, please do not hesitate to contact our office.
Treasury Face Sheets
JobKeeper Fact Sheet For Employers (pdf)
JobKeeper Fact Sheet for Employees (pdf)
JobKeeper Payment FAQs (pdf)