JobKeeper Payments

Firstly, it is important to note that these JobKeeper payments are not yet law, it is likely to become law, but there is no clear detail about these payments or how they will work until the legislation is passed. It is expected that the legislation will pass sometime this week. 

The JobKeeper payment was developed to reduce the load on Centrelink, to retain employees or re-engage employees and keep them connected to their employers. 

The Proposal

$1500.00 per fortnight provided to the employer by the Government (being paid by the ATO) for each impacted eligible employee. 

The proposed package: 

• Eligible businesses will have a 30% downturn in revenue (most likely this down turn will be compared to the previous years figures for the same period. The commissioner will have discretion to review and approve businesses using other means who were not trading last year or who were going through a growth phase recently)
• Money will be received by employers from 1 May
• Payments are made monthly in arrears (meaning the business will still need to fund a month worth of payments) 
• These payments are on offer for a maximum of 6 months
• Employers will be required to report turnover monthly to the ATO
• The amount received by the employer is GST Free
• The amount paid to the employee is taxable
• Superannuation is a grey area, one fact sheet I have read states it is not applicable, but one webinar I attended mentioned that super is still payable on ordinary pay. Please await the full passed legislation for clarification on this. 

What Employees Are Eligible? 

• Employees who have been stood down, terminated or had their hours decreased
• Full time and part time employees
• Casual employees who have been employed by the business for at least 12 months
• Sole Traders

Payments to Employees: 

• If you normally pay your employee Less than $1500 per fortnight, you will be required to pay them a minimum of $1500 per fortnight
• If you normally pay your employee More than $1500 per fortnight the employer will be required to pay the additional (This is still currently a grey area) 

Key Dates

• Pre 1 March – the relationship between the employer and employee must exist
• 30th March – Start date of the relevant pay periods (the first fortnight after 30 March) 
• 8th April – Approx date the JobKeeper payments will be made law
• 1st May – First subsidy payment to employers

Further Information

You can register your interest for JobKeeper payments with the ATO here. Please note that this link is just to keep informed about JobKeeper payments and does not register you for JobKeeper payments. Registration is not yet available. 

You can read the full fact sheet released by the Qld Treasury here.

We will post another update once legislation has passed.