Changes to Jobkeeper Fast Approaching
“Business owners will need to get organised now, to ensure they apply within the timeframe allocated…”
Author: Mandeep Singh
The Federal Government’s original JobKeeper package has been a salve for business across regional Queensland as they’ve struggled to deal with the ongoing impacts of the COVID pandemic.
From 28th September 2020, there will be changes to JobKeeper to offer targeted support to those businesses and not-for-profits which continue to be significantly impacted by the COVID pandemic.
Key changes to the eligibility requirements include the use of actual GST turnover as opposed to projected GST turnover, a reduction in the fortnightly JobKeeper payment rate (including an additional reduction for those who work less than an average of 20 hours per week), and a change to the employment start date requirement.
Businesses and not-for-profits seeking to claim JobKeeper for the period 28 September 2020 to 3 January 2021 will need to compare their GST turnover between the September 2020 quarter and the September 2019 quarter (or an alternative comparison period determined using the available alternative tests which are expected to be in line with the existing alternative tests). Businesses will be required to further re-asses their eligibility for the JobKeeper period 4 January 2021 to 28 March 2021.
The employment test date for assessing which employees are eligible for the JobKeeper payment has changed to 1 July 2020 with effect from the fortnight commencing 3 August 2020. The reference period for determining an employees’ number of hours worked and their tier of payment will be the two fortnightly pay periods prior to 1 March 2020 or 1 July 2020. The period with the higher number of average hours is to be used for employees who were eligible at 1 March 2020.
From a practical point of view, one of the challenges will be the short amount of time businesses have to confirm their eligibility. In the first couple of weeks of October, business will need to finalise their GST turnover calculations for the September 2020 quarter and determine whether they're eligible or not. Business owners will need to get organised now, to ensure they are in a position to apply within the timeframe allocated.
Please reach out to your trusted PVW Partners Advisor if we can help in any way.
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Mandeep Singh
Mandeep has over 6 years’ experience in taxation, accounting and business advisory matters gained from working at PVW Partners and PricewaterhouseCoopers.
His experience includes advising on business structuring, specialist tax consulting, M&A support, financial reporting and corporate income tax compliance.
Mandeep has in depth expertise advising a diverse range of large family owned groups. He has provided recent advisory services to the following industries: property development, construction, agri-business, engineering, manufacturing, retail and professional services.
He also serves on the board of the Townsville Business Development Centre and is a Graduate of the 2019 Townsville Enterprise Emerging Leaders Program.