We have had many questions in relation to the JobKeeper payment and can now provide some clarity. Please note that the measures announced are complicated in the way that a business is assessed and unfortunately much too complicated to cover entirely in this update.
We will contact all of our business clients prior to the 21st of April so that Dendra can assist in registering your business for the JobKeeper payment. We will also discuss your options and qualification criteria. If you have not been contacted by the 21st of April, please contact our office directly.
We understand that this is a difficult time for all our clients, their families and their employees. As always, we are here to help our clients in any way that we possibly can. Although there are many changes occurring in the world of tax and government grants, we are working hard to keep all our clients abreast of all the changes and provide access to all grants and subsidies available.
JobKeeper Payment Information
Every business will need to prove a reduction in business by comparing revenue within a previous period, for example comparing March 2020 revenue to March 2019 revenue. More importantly, every business will also be able to project forward and use the months of April, May or June however you must have a substantiated and calculated approach to future turnover for those periods.
Any employer who qualifies must register by 26 April 2020 to be eligible for the JobKeeper payment to start from 30 March 2020. (Please note that were you have previously registered your interest via the ATO website this IS NOT an actual registration). If you do not register by this date you will not be eligible to receive payments from 30 March 2020. However if you register after 26 April 2020, then you will be eligible to receive the payment from the fortnight from the period that you register.
However, to register, you must ensure that your GST turnover has reduced by 30% in the comparison periods. You will need to calculate or forecast your GST turnover to establish your turnover test decline. Note however that the period selected will vary depending on the circumstances and facts of each business. Fortunately you can look at different periods to test and see if you qualify.
The subsidy will be paid for a maximum period of 6 months (ie till 27 September 2020) and if you register for the scheme then all eligible employees must be paid the payment (unless that particular employee does not wish to receive the payment).
Each business will also be responsible for identifying eligible employees. The eligibility requirements for employees need to be assessed on an individual basis for each employee and there are number of reasons why an individual employee may not qualify. After assessing eligibility, the ATO then will require an employer and employee to complete a “JobKeeper Employee Nomination Notice”.
Also it is important to note that the employee must be paid a minimum payment of $1,500 to the person before any JobKeeper payment is received by the business for that employee.
Every business will also need to lodge a monthly JobKeeper Declaration Report which will state your GST turnover and also your projected GST turnover.
As you can see, with the brief information we have provided, eligibility is quite complex and if assessed incorrectly, you could miss out on receiving the JobKeeper payment or even have the JobKeeper payments required to be paid back. As mentioned above, we will contact all of our business clients prior to the 21st of April to discuss their options and the qualification criteria while also discussing registering on your behalf once we have assessed eligibility. If you have not been contacted by the 21st of April, please contact our office directly.
As always, every business is different and circumstances vary in the way that these measures will apply for each business. You should not rely on the above information to register for the JobKeeper payment and you should either contact our office so that we can assess your eligibility or review the information on the ATO’s website in relation to the JobKeeper payment at https://www.ato.gov.au/General/JobKeeper-Payment/