Dear Valued Clients,

Everything is moving very quickly regarding JobKeeper. This scheme commenced 30 March 2020, and it requires registration and employee engagement.

The ATO has set out the process for enrolment. Follow the instructions on this page: https://www.ato.gov.au/general/jobkeeper-payment/employers/enrol-and-apply-for-the-jobkeeper-payment/.

You will need to register your interest, check eligibility, notify your employees that you intend to claim the payment on their behalf, and get them to complete a form called JobKeeper Employee Nomination notice. A link to this form is here.

Nest steps:

  •  Check your eligibility
  • At the time you enrol in the JobKeeper payment scheme, you need to confirm that your business in a relevant period has had, or is likely to have:
  • 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).

To understand how you calculate the fall in turnover please refer to this page:

https://www.ato.gov.au/general/jobkeeper-payment/employers/eligible-employers/#Howtodetermineadeclineinturnover.

Let your employee know you’re intending to claim JobKeeper on their behalf and check they are not getting it from any other business:

  • Pre-fill the form electronically with the Employer Name + ABN. To make life easier, prefill the employee’s details from the payroll records.
  • Email the pre-filled form to your employee asking them to review, tick the nomination at Section C (they should tick yes if they agree to it), sign, and return to you before end of April.
  • Keep the form for 5 years as evidence for nomination should it be requested.
  • Continue to pay your staff at least $1,500 per fortnight, remembering the first fortnight finished on 12 April 2020.

Note1: The ATO has advised that the minimum 2 fortnights in April need to be paid to the employees by the 30th of April to be eligible for the reimbursement via Job keeper.
Note2: Employees earning less than $1,500 per fortnight need to be topped up to $1500 per fortnight before 30 April to be eligible for Job keeper reimbursement.

The summary below shows the JobKeeper periods.

JobKeeper Payment Periods
Fortnight Start End
1 30/03/2020 12/04/2020
2 13/04/2020 26/04/2020
3 27/04/2020 10/05/2020
4 11/05/2020 24/05/2020
5 25/05/2020 07/06/2020
6 08/06/2020 21/06/2020
7 22/06/2020 05/07/2020
8 06/07/2020 19/07/2020
9 20/07/2020 02/08/2020
10 03/08/2020 16/08/2020
11 17/08/2020 30/08/2020
12 31/08/2020 13/09/2020
13 14/09/2020 27/09/2020

 

Enrol from 20 April with the ATO for the JobKeeper payments using the Business Portal:

https://www.ato.gov.au/business/business-portal/

If you don’t have access to this, we recommend you organise it along with a MyGovID (this is different to MyGov):

https://www.ato.gov.au/General/Online-services/Accessing-online-services-with-myGovID-and-RAM/

You’ll need to do this quickly to ensure you get the first payment for fortnight 1 + 2 (up to 26/04/2020). Using the online form – provide bank details, number of employees etc.

Claim the JobKeeper payment from 4 May 2020 onwards by logging in to the Business Portal. There is a process to identify eligible employees using the STP mechanism. The main software providers are working on incorporating this now (Xero/ MYOB/ QBO).

As your Tax Agent, we are authorised to enrol your business and employees on your behalf and lodge your first payment request. Please contact out office if you would like assistance with this.

The JobKeeper lodgement process is still to be seen and will open on the 20thApril 2020. As a business owner the whole process may seem quite daunting and we believe will be scrutinised by the ATO in the future, so please be thorough with your submission.

We have allocated resources to be available to help you prepare or guide you through the process. Should you require this service, please contact us requiring this assistance.

We will contact you and advise estimated pricing and information required. The complexity of the process will typically depend on the size of your business and the number of employees you have.

Please contact us if you would like us to help and stay safe.

Kind Regards,
Aura Partners