A lot has happened over the last few weeks. On April 8, Parliament announced that the JobKeeper Payment legislation was passed and enrollments will soon open.

The JobKeeper Payment is a fortnightly wage subsidy of $1,500 per eligible employee to eligible businesses for up to six months. This payment is also extended to self-employed individuals such as sole traders, directors of companies, partners of partnerships & adult beneficiaries of trusts, provided the entity and individual meet eligibility tests.

UPDATE: Enrolment will open 20th April 2020

Enrolment for this payment is due to open on the 20th of April. Please note that enrolment is required for all businesses that intend on applying for this payment. Applications are expected to open in the coming weeks.

Your business may be eligible for this subsidy if your business:

• Employed eligible employees at the 1^st of March 2020 and are still currently employed (including employees that have been stood down or re-hired)
• Is not subject to the Major Bank Levy
• Experiencing or reasonably expecting a decline or loss of revenue (turnover) in comparison to same period last year due to the onset of the COVID 19 pandemic of at least:

If the business is a newly established business or has no previous period to reasonably compare to, additional information may be requested by the Tax Commissioner for eligibility and the application will be assessed at the Commissioner’s discretion.

People who are self-employed are also eligible for this payment, providing they meet the turnover tests. More information on special eligibility rules for self-employed individuals will be released soon.

Eligible employees include:

• Current employees of an eligible business including if they have been stood down or rehired
• Were employed on or before 1^st March 2020
• Full-time or part-time employees
• Casuals that have been employed by the employer on a regular basis since at least 1st March 2019
• 16 years old and over
• Are an Australian Resident, Australian Citizen, hold a permanent residence visa, a Special Category (Subclass 444) Visa or a Protected Special Category Visa
• Not currently receiving Parental Leave payments, Dad & Partner Pay or Worker’s Compensation
• Is not receiving (or agreed to recieve) JobKeeper payments from another employer

Please note that employees cannot receive the JobKeeper from their employer and the JobSeeker Payment from Centrelink at once. Keep in mind that the JobKeeper Payment is $1,500 before tax per fortnight and the JobSeeker Payment is $1,100 before tax per fortnight.

If your employee is eligible for the JobKeeper Payment but have applied for the JobSeeker Payment, it may be wise to speak with your employee about these differences.

The employer must identify & report to the ATO which employees they will be claiming this subsidy for using a JobKeeper Employee Nomination Form upon application.

The first of these payments will begin in the first week of May and will continue to be paid monthly in arrears. The payments will be back dated to the 30^th of March 2020.

The employer will be required to pay their employees at least $1,500 a fortnight before tax. If the employee ordinarily earns more than this, the employer will have to top this amount up out of their own pocket. If the employee ordinarily earns less than this, the employer will still have to pay the employee the full amount of the subsidy before tax.