04 May 2020 - Call to Action: JobKeeper Payments for Eligible Employees and Eligible Business Participants (Sole Traders / Directors / Shareholders / Partners)

THIS WEEKS CALL TO ACTION

1. Monthly JobKeeper declarations are now live and will need to be completed before the April payment will be received. The form can be lodged via the ATO Business Portal OR through C&J as your Tax Agent (please note that fees will apply).

          a. ELIGIBLE EMPLOYERS USING STP need to check that the number of eligible employees has been correctly recorded by the ATO on the monthly declaration.

          b. ELIGIBLE EMPLOYERS NOT USING STP need to manually lodge employee details as part of the monthly declaration.

          c. You will also be required to report revenue for April as well as a projection for May when making the declaration.

          d. ELIGIBLE BUSINESS PARTICIPANTS are also required to complete the monthly declaration in order to receive the JobKeeper payment.

          e. Please note that you need to have a completed employee or eligible business participant nomination form on file prior to claiming the JobKeeper payment.

2. ELIGIBLE EMPLOYERS can still be eligible for the April JobKeeper payment provided you have paid the two April fortnightly JobKeeper payments to eligible employees by 8^th May. Accordingly, Eligible Employers must determine IF they are eligible for JobKeeper in the month of April by 8^th May. 

          IF you have failed the Turnover Test for the month of April but you foresee passing the Turnover Test for the June quarter you could still be eligible for JobKeeper from the 1^st April. It is very important to determine your eligibility this week.

          Please call us to discuss if eligibility is still not clear.

3. ELIGIBLE BUSINESS PARTICIPANTS have until 31st May to assess eligibility and back claim to 1 April so you are not under the same pressure to conclude on the Turnover Test this week as Eligible Employers.

ALL CLAIMANTS NEED TO CHECK-IN ON THEIR CLAIM MONTHLY VIA THE BUSINESS PORTAL

Link to JobKeeper Eligible Employer enrolment

Link to JobKeeper Eligible Business Participant enrolment

INTEGRITY MEASURES - Update in ATO View on Calculating Turnover

          The ATO has announced that whilst they previously accepted that the method of calculating turnover for JobKeeper purposes (cash or accruals)  did not need to be consistent with BAS reporting methodology, they have back tracked marginally and advised that where the normal BAS reporting basis has not been used in determining the turnover reduction, the ATO may reach out to understand that the method chosen achieves an appropriate reflection of turnover. In addition, the ATO confirmed that the method used must be consistent with the comparison period.

          If you have any concerns in regards to this please contact us.