JobKeeper Extension
Further to our JobKeeper bulletin of 28th July (CLICK HERE to view) the Government has announced two changes to the JobKeeper scheme. The first makes it easier for organisations to qualify for the JobKeeper payment extension from 28th September 2020. The second change adjusts the reference date for employee eligibility.
1) Business turnover test
Businesses will only need to pass the decline in turnover test for the September 2020 quarter alone (rather than for both the June and September quarters as announced in July) to be eligible for JobKeeper for the period 28th September 2020 to 3rd January 2021. This means that you compare the decline in turnover in the September 2020 quarter to the September 2019 quarter. A 30%, or greater, decline will qualify businesses for JobKeeper.
Then, for the December Quarter, businesses will only have to meet the decline in turnover test for the December 2020 quarter compared to December 2019 quarter to be eligible for JobKeeper for the period 4 January to 28 March 2021.
2) Eligible employee test
Effective from 3rd August the date for assessing which employees are eligible for the JobKeeper Payment is now 1 July 2020 (previously 1 March).
The reference period for employees regarding their hours worked to determine their applicable payment level will be the two fortnightly pay periods prior to 1 March 2020 or 1 July 2020. The period with the higher number of hours is to be used for employees who were eligible at 1 March 2020.