JobKeeper - Important update
01. Extension of time to enrol for the JobKeeper scheme
Please note the Commissioner has extended the time to enrol for the initial JobKeeper periods from 30 April 2020 until 31 May 2020.
If you enrol by 31 May, you will still be able to claim for the fortnights in April and May provided you meet all the eligibility requirements for each of those fortnights. This includes having paid your employees by the appropriate date for each fortnight.
For the first two fortnights (30 March – 12 April, 13 April – 26 April), the Commissioner will accept the minimum $1,500 payment for each fortnight has been paid by you even if it has been paid late, provided it is paid by you by 8 May 2020. If you do not pay your staff by this date, you will not be able to claim JobKeeper for the first two fortnights.
You can enrol and claim for JobKeeper earlier if you choose. For example, you can enrol by the end of April to claim JobKeeper payments for the two fortnights in April.
02. Calculating Turnover
The turnover calculation is based on your sales (excluding GST). You need to compare your sales (or likely sales) for a recent month with the same month last year (for example compare April 2019 and April 2020 sales). You can also use the April to June 2020 quarter to compare the same quarter last year.
If you are working out your likely sales you need to:
make a reasonable estimate
document the reasons for your estimate
You don’t need to be registered for GST to calculate your turnover. GST turnover is just how the Commissioner will work out what is included and what is not.
There are a few special situations where the Commissioner has made available some extra ways of calculating the fall in turnover. This is called the alternative turnover test.
As a practical matter, it is accept that you may use either a cash or accruals basis to work out your turnover. However, you must use the same method for both periods. The Commissioner expects that you will normally use the same method as you use for GST.
Examples of some of the things that should be excluded from turnover are:
include input-taxed sales (e.g. bank interest, sale of shares, residential rental income)
sales not connected with an enterprise that you carry on (e.g. sale of private car).
03. Alternative Test
The Commissioner has determined alternative tests for fall in turnover for classes of entities where there is not an appropriate relevant comparison period.
However, if an entity satisfies the basic test it does not need to go to an alternative test determined by the Commissioner.
Circumstances where an alternative test applies:
The entity commenced business after the relevant comparison period (the business did not exist in that period)
The entity acquired or disposed of part of the business after the relevant comparison period (the business is not the same business in that period as it is now)
The entity undertook a restructure after the relevant comparison period (the business is not the same business in that period as it is now)
The entity’s turnover substantially increased by:
50% or more in the 12 months immediately before the applicable turnover test period; or
25% or more in the 6 months immediately before the applicable turnover test period, or
12.5% or more in the 3 months immediately before the applicable turnover test period.
The entity was affected by drought or other declared natural disaster during the relevant comparison period
The entity has a large irregular variance in their turnover for the quarters ending in the 12 months before the applicable turnover test period, excluding entities that have cyclical or regular seasonal variance in their turnover, or
The entity is a sole trader or small partnership where sickness, injury or leave have impacted an individual’s ability to work which has affected turnover.
ATO has released guides for employers and employees
Jobkeeper guides for Employers
04. Update to JobKeeper rules
To ensure the integrity and the efficient operation of the JobKeeper Payment scheme, the Government is clarifying the operation of some rules:
employees employed through a special purpose entity, rather than an operating entity
charities and the treatment of government revenue
religious practitioners
'one in all in' principles
full time students aged 16 and 17 years old
international aid organisations
universities
The Australian Taxation Office (ATO) are developing information and guidance and will update their website as soon as possible. For more information, see the media release issued by the Treasurer, the Hon Josh Frydenberg MP, on 24 April 2020.
05. ‘One in all in’ principle
Once an employer decides to participate in the JobKeeper scheme and their eligible employees have agreed to be nominated by the employer, the employer must ensure that all of these eligible employees are covered by their participation in the scheme.
This includes all eligible employees who are undertaking work for the employer or have been stood down. The employer cannot select which eligible employees will participate in the scheme. As noted in the explanatory statement to the existing rules, this ‘one in, all in’ principle is already a key feature of the scheme and will be made clearer in the rules.
Remember to include employees who meet eligibility requirements who may be on LWOP (Leave without pay) such as unpaid parental leave (not eligible if they are currently receiving govt paid parental scheme payments), employees who are on long term sick leave who have exhausted their leave entitlements etc.
06. Full time students aged 16 and 17 years old
As noted in the explanatory statement to the existing rules, the benefit of the JobKeeper payment to workers over the age of 16 is justified for those who are financially independent and who require the security provided by participation in the JobKeeper scheme and the maintenance of the working relationship that it affords.
The rules will provide that full time students who are 17 years old and younger, and who are not financially independent, are not eligible for the JobKeeper Payment. This clarification will apply prospectively, which would mean an eligible employer that has already met the wage condition of paying such an employee $1,500 for a fortnight could be entitled to a JobKeeper Payment in arrears for that fortnight.
07. Employee nomination notice
An employee can only nominate one employer for JobKeeper. The employee must agree to be nominated by you for JobKeeper. If the employee does not complete the nomination notice, you can’t claim JobKeeper for them.
For practical reasons, an employer may choose to create their own digital employee nomination notice, but it must include key information. See Creating your own employee nomination notice.
Your employee's signature is not required by the ATO, but can be requested by you. Employees can submit their nomination notice to their employer through their internal business process (for example, a business's HR portal) or their own form of communication channel (for example, an email).
Where you cannot contact an employee to complete the nomination notice, you must be able to demonstrate that you tried to contact the employee e.g. email, text, post.
07. JobKeeper Guides
The following guides provide a high-level summary of the JobKeeper Payment scheme:
Employers:
JobKeeper guides