JobKeeper Payment – enrolments extended to 31 May

On Friday 24 April, the ATO announced that the deadline for businesses to enrol in the JobKeeper program, has been extended to 31 May.
 
If your business intends to apply for JobKeeper, then you need to ensure that you complete the following by 31 May:

  • Register interest and subscribe for JobKeeper updates on the ATO website 
  • Check your business meets the eligibility criteria 
  • Check your employees meet the eligibility criteria 
  • Notify your eligible employees that you intend to claim the JobKeeper payment on their behalf 
  • Send the JobKeeper Employee Nomination Notice to your eligible employees and get them to sign and return it to you. 
  • Enrol for the JobKeeper program – this requires you to provide company bank details and specify the number of eligible employees for the first and second fortnights. 

Businesses that enrol for JobKeeper by 31 May will be able to claim payments back to the start of April. However, in order to claim payments for this period, businesses must ensure that by Friday 8 May they have:

  • Paid eligible employees at least $1,500 per fortnight for April. 
  • If you have not done this, you will need to ensure that you make “top up” payments to each of these staff members, in order to claim JobKeeper.  For example, if you have paid ‘Employee A’  $1,000 during the fortnight of 30 March-12 April and $1,200 for 13-26 April, you will need to make a total “top up” payment of $800. 

Further information is available on the ATO’s Frequently Asked JobKeeper Questions page. 

JobKeeper - Alternative tests for eligibility

If you’ve attempted to apply for JobKeeper and your business failed to pass the 30% reduction in turnover test, there are alternative tests that you can use to determine your business’ eligibility.

To see if you are able to utilise an alternative test, here is a summary of example situations to which those tests apply. 

We strongly encourage you to speak with your accountant or bookkeeper, as you work through the JobKeeper process. You may also wish to contact NECA Legal for further guidance.

COVID-19 Employer Guide

For further information relating to COVID-19 and managing your workplace environment, check out the latest version of our COVID-19 Employer Guide.