April 2020
JobKeeper Overview
As per our previous correspondence the JobKeeper payment is available for eligible Employers. Eligible employers include:
- for a business with a turnover of less than $1 billion – it's GST turnover will be reduced by more than 30% relative to a comparable period a year ago (of at least a month); or
- for a business with a turnover of $1 billion or more – it's GST turnover will be reduced by more than 50% relative to a comparable period a year ago (of at least a month); and
- the business is not subject to the Major Bank Levy.
Self-employed individuals (i.e., businesses without employees) and not-for-profit entities (including charities) that satisfy the above requirements will be eligible to apply for the JobKeeper Payment.
The payments are made for eligible employees who include (source ATO website 16 April 2020):
- are currently employed by the eligible employer (including if you were stood down or re-hired).
- were for the eligible employer (or another entity in their wholly owned group), either a
- permanent full-time or part-time employee at 1 March 2020
- long-term casual employee (employed on a regular and systematic basis for at least 12 months) as at 1 March 2020 and not a permanent employee of any other employer.
- were aged 16 years or older at 1 March 2020.
- were either
- an Australian resident (within the meaning of the Social Security Act 1991) – visit the Services Australia website and read residence descriptions for more details.
- an Australian resident for the purpose of the Income Tax Assessment Act 1936 and the holder of a Subclass 444 (Special Category) visa as at 1 March 2020.
- were not in receipt of any of these payments during the JobKeeper fortnight
- government parental leave or Dad and partner pay under the Paid Parental Leave Act 2010
- a payment in accordance with Australian worker compensation law for an individual's total incapacity for work.
We now have certainty to the periods that the JobKeeper payments relate to and detail these below.
- 30 March to 12 April 2020
- 13 April to 26 April 2020
- 27 April to 10 May 2020
- 11 May 2020 to 24 May 2020
- 25 May 2020 to 7 June 2020
- 8 June 2020 to 21 June 2020
- 22 June 2020 to 5 July 2020
- 6 July 2020 to 19 July 2020
- 20 July 2020 to 2 August 2020
- 3 August 2020 to 16 August 2020
- 17 August 2020 to 30 August 2020
- 31 August 2020 to 13 September 2020
- 14 September 2020 to 27 September 2020
Payments are made to the employer by the ATO in arrears monthly within 14 days of the start of the month and the ATO have stated that hope to make the payment in the first week of each month. For the first 2 payment periods highlighted above the ATO has allowed that employers can make the payments by the end of April to be eligible for the payment in May. Therefore if you have not paid your eligible employees a minimum of $1500 for 30 March to 12 April you will have to pay them or do an adjustment to increase their pay to $1500 if they were paid less by the end of April 2020. You will also have to make sure you pay your employees $1500 for the second April fortnight we are currently in.
From the fortnights starting 27 April onwards the payment of $1500 per eligible employee must be made in each fortnight. The ATO is measuring eligibility for payments from May onwards using Single Touch Payroll. Xero and MYOB have announced that they will be updating their systems so that this payment can be reported and identified easily through the payroll process. There is also a manual system of reporting if you do not use STP and for the self-employed.
There are important steps that employers and the self-employed (where applicable) need to take now to ensure their enrolment in this package:
- Establish that you are eligible for the JobKeeper payments by the reduction in GST turnover mentioned above (the ATO is to release more detail on what GST turnover is shortly)
- Check which employees are eligible for the JobKeeper payments
- Pay each eligible employee the $1500 minimum per fortnight
- Notify your eligible employees that you are intending to claim JobKeeper
- Provide employees with the ATO Employee Nomination Notice which is available via this link https://www.ato.gov.au/Forms/JobKeeper-payment---employee-nomination-notice/ (it is a requirement from the ATO that you will need to provide us, as your tax agent, a copy of these completed notices as well)
- From 20 April 2020 you can enrol in the JobKeeper payments via the ATO online services and MyGovID. We and do this on your behalf if you don’t use the ATO online services. In this application you specifiy
- Every month you will need to apply for the payment via the ATO online services and MyGovID. You will need to provide the GST turnover for the previous month and also an estimate of your GST turnover for the next month at this point. Again we can do this for you if required.
Finally there are very strict integrity rules included in this legislation so that only eligible business and self-employed are included.
If anyone requires any forms in relation to this package please email Kelly on admin@halysandsells.com.au and she will send them to you.
As stated in the beginning this is important and very complex legislation. John and Emma are happy to assist you in any way with this or any of the other stimulus measures that both the Federal Government and the State Governments have put into place during the coronavirus pandemic.
All at Halys & Sells are wishing you happiness and hoping you are keeping safe and well during these troubling times. We are looking forward to working with you through this crisis and beyond to the other side when we return to the new normal that will be post COVID-19. Stay safe!
Please Note: Many of the comments in this publication are general in nature and anyone intending to apply the information to practical circumstances should seek professional advice to independently verify their interpretation and the information’s applicability to their particular circumstances.