JOBKEEPER 2.0 EXTENSION LEGISLATED

Per our previous newsletters, the Government has extended the Jobkeeper scheme. This has now been legislated and Treasury have released the legislative instrument providing more details about how the assessment criteria apply.

The extension has two periods

• Extension 1 – 28 September 2020 to 3 January 2021
  • Will require a business to demonstrate a 30% decrease in turnover for September 2020 quarter compared to September 2019 quarter.
• Extension 2 – 4 January 2021 to 28 March 2021
  • Will require a business to demonstrate a 30% decrease in turnover for December 2020 quarter compared to December 2019 quarter.

Businesses can qualify for either both of the extension periods, or one or the other as they are not required to qualify for the first to be eligible for the second. The requirement for businesses to show a decrease in the June 2020 quarter has also been removed.

Turnover will be based on the actual GST turnover that is reported to the ATO on the BAS lodged.  If a business uses the cash-reporting basis for their BAS, they will then need to calculate their GST turnover using this method to determine if they are eligible for the JobKeeper extension.

Another key change is the two employee payment tiers.

Tier 1

• Eligible employees who worked or actively engaged in the business for 80 hours or more (average of 20 hours a week) in the reference period will receive $1,200 for Extension 1 and $1,000 for Extension 2.

Tier 2

• Eligible employees who worked or actively engaged in the business for 80 hours or less (average of 20 hours a week) in the reference period will receive $750 for Extension 1 and $650 for Extension 2.

The reference period for determining an employee’s average hours is the four weeks (28 days) prior to the end of the pay cycle that finished before 1 March (for employees who started before 1 March 2020) or the four weeks prior to the end of the pay cycle that finished before 1 July (for those employees who started before 1 July 2020 but after 1 March). In some cases, Alternative reference periods can be used. Further information regarding the reference period can be found at the following link. You will be required to notify your eligible employees in writing of which tier they are eligible for.

Please let us know via our online form if you will require assistance or not. You can find it here.

Our prices for the above services are as follows;

• Initial Enrolment – $250 – Business Participant + 1 employee
• Initial Enrolment – from $400 – for up to 10 employees & $150 for each additional 5 employees

Monthly Reporting from $150 per month (to be billed upfront)