The JOB KEEPER Payment program from the Australian Federal Government has officially been launched on 20 April 2020.
Hence it is important for businesses who want assistance to pay their employees to get their accountant or tax agent to enroll in the program. The enrollment starts from 20th April 2020. EndureGo Tax specialists in JOB KEEPER processing and is willing to work with business people to facilitate them to get the payment.
The amount of the pay is $1500 per fortnight per employee. The scheme will last for 6 months, and this payment is around 70% of the Australian national median wages.
It is important to note that the amount paid under the JOB KEEPER is $400 more than the JOB KEEPER payment, which is a $1100 payment for those out of work.
There are some special requirements for the employees, for example,
- The employee must be hired by the business as of 1 March 2020
- The employee must be either full-time permanent, part-time permanent, or long-term casual, meaning they must be on a regular and systemic basis for over 12 months.
- The employee must be at least 16 years old.
- The employee must be an Australian Citizen, the holder of an Australian Permanent Resident visa, or a protected special category visa (Visa 444).
Hence, once the employer enrolls in the scheme, they will then send “the employee nomination form” to the employee, and ask them to sign and send it back, once sent back, it is important to determine whether in the period of 2019 and 2020 did the business sale decreases by 30%, this applies if the total aggregated sales are less than $1 billion dollar, if the total aggregated sale is more than $1 billion dollars, then the decrease needs to be 50%. The business can pick the timing of the comparison, either using monthly figures or quarterly figures, and it is paramount they pick the right timing to compare the 30% decrease. We will provide an article on how to do the turnover comparison in our next article.
If the employee was paid less than $1500 per fortnight before, then would they get less of it or more, the answer is the employer needs to pay a minimum of $1500 per fortnight to them, hence it might be that they will end up getting more payment than before.
Hence it is important that you speed up and get the JOB KEEPER payment as soon as possible. Please contact our team of professional accountants at 0410-829-900, and we will be able to help you out.
We will work with you to understand your business structure, assist you in enrolling in the program, and identify your employees who can get the JOB KEEPER payment. It is important to note that we need to get the employee nomination form back by the end of April in order for the processing to happen.
Also, the JOB KEEPER program also can apply to sole traders and partnerships, hence if you are a sole trader, and believe your sales have decreased by 30%, please come and talk to us at 0410-829-900 and we will help you out.
