JobSaver and Micro Business Grant Retesting Requirements
Service NSW have confirmed that recipients of the JobSaver and the Micro Business Grant will need to provide turnover figures each fortnight to verify if your business is still experiencing a minimum 30% drop of turnover.
The retesting requirement will commence for the fortnight ended 26/9/21 for the JobSaver payment and the fortnight ended 3/10/21 for the Micro Business Grant.
An email will be sent to each applicant, from Service NSW, with a link to allow you to provide the required information. For each fortnight you will need to confirm:
- The employee headcount on 13 July 2021 stated in the initial application has been maintained; and
- The business has continued to experience a decline in turnover of at least 30%.
If your business remained closed during the fortnight you will not be required to provide any income figures as part of this process.
Service NSW have confirmed that you can delay the reconfirmation if you need time to finalise your accounting records and you can confirm multiple fortnights at once via your MyServiceNSW Business Profile. Payments will be made within 5 business days of completing the reconfirmation process.
Comparison Periods:
There are three possible methods available for the fortnightly retesting of revenue. Please note that the same method must be used for testing the revenue in all fortnights, you cannot change methods.
OPTION 1 — If your initial comparison period was in 2019 or 2020, use the same year but the corresponding fortnight as the current fortnight (rolling comparison period)
This option is available to a business that has experienced a decline in turnover of 30% more due to the Public Health Order compared to the same period in 2019 or 2020. You must use the same year (i.e. 2019 or 2020) for the comparison period as you chose in your initial application.
For example, if you initially compared the period 26 July to 8 August 2021 to 26 July to 8 August 2019, and you are now testing 13 September to 26 September 2021, then your comparison period is 13 September to 26 September 2019. You cannot use 13 September to 26 September 2020 as your comparison period in this example.
OPTION 2 — If your initial comparison period was in 2019 or 2020, use the same comparison period that was used in the initial application (static comparison period)
This option is available to a business that has experienced a decline in turnover of at least 30% due to the Public Health Order compared to the fortnight in 2019 or 2020 that was used as the comparison period for the initial JobSaver application.
For example, if you initially compared the period 26 July to 8 August 2021 to 26 July to 8 August 2019, and you are now testing 13 September to 26 September 2021, then your comparison period remains 26 July to 8 August 2019. This comparison period will remain fixed for all future periods.
OPTION 3 — If you used 12 June to 25 June 2021 as your initial comparison period, you must use that same period that was used in the initial application (static comparison period)
This option is available to a business that has experienced a decline in turnover of at least 30% due to the Public Health Order compared with the two-week period immediately before any NSW restrictions (12 to 25 June 2021 inclusive).
For example, if you initially compared the period 26 July to 8 August 2021 to 12 June to 25 June 2021, and you are now testing 13 September to 26 September 2021, then your comparison period remains 12 June to 25 June 2021. This comparison period will remain fixed for all future periods.
Businesses eligible for some fortnights and not others:
As eligibility will be reconfirmed each fortnight, some businesses may be eligible one fortnight and not eligible the next fortnight if their decline in turnover decreases again.
Becoming ineligible for one fortnight does not disqualify a business from becoming eligible again in a future fortnight where they meet the eligibility conditions. You will not need to re-apply. You will be given the opportunity to declare your eligibility every fortnight through email reminders
For more information please review the following links:
https://www.service.nsw.gov.au/jobsaver-payment-common-questions#reconfirming-eligibility
https://insights.taxinstitute.com.au/new-jobsaver-and-micro-business-grant-retesting-requirement