28 Sep JOBKEEPER CORONAVIRUS WAGE SUBSIDY IS CHANGING TODAY
It’s been six months since the Federal Government announced the massive JobKeeper coronavirus wage subsidy, along with plans to “snap back” from today.
But as the pandemic has continued to wreak havoc on the economy, the Government extended JobKeeper through to March next year, but with different rates and eligibility requirements.
Here’s what’s changing from today:
When the Government first announced the second wave of JobKeeper in July, businesses were required to show a drop in both the September quarter and the June quarter.
But that’s been changed in light of the outbreak in Victoria, so businesses across the country will only have to demonstrate a drop in the September quarter.
As of today, 28 September, employers need to pay their eligible employees a different rate of JobKeeper, with the wage subsidy now a two-tiered system, meaning that the rate is dependent on the number of hours worked.
The tier 1 rate of $1,200 per fortnight will now replace the $1,500 flat payment and will apply to employees who worked for 80 hours or more in the four weeks of pay periods before either 1 March 2020 or 1 July 2020, or eligible participants who were actively engaged in the business for 80 hours or more in February.
The tier 2 rate of $750 per fortnight will apply to all other eligible employees and business participants.
Additionally, while those employers already receiving the payment don’t need to re-enrol, they must demonstrate a decline in turnover and notify the ATO which tier they will claim for their employees.
And to coincide with the start of JobKeeper 2.0, MYOB has said its major payroll products are ready to process the next stage of the wage subsidy.
While the ATO earlier announced it will work with payroll software companies in order to better determine and disclose which businesses are eligible for the extension and which tier of eligibility, MYOB has now revealed it has completed its prep.
A staged rollout, which kicked off on Friday, has seen MYOB AccountRight and MYOB Essentials payroll products feature additional start and finish fortnights through to 28 March 2021, a report to help customers identify which tier their employees belong to, ability to easily report the employee tiers to the ATO and a turnover calculator to help with the quarterly turnover test.
Will JobKeeper remain the same from now on?
The change in the rate will remain at current levels from today until the start of next year, but from January 4 it will fall again.
On that date, the full-time rate will fall to $1,000 per fortnight, while the part-time rate will drop to $650 per fortnight.
Again, businesses will need to demonstrate a drop in revenue in the three months to December compared to the year prior.
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