What’s different about JobKeeper 2.0?

The information contained in this article is based on information available at the time of writing (20 August 2020) and does not constitute legal or financial advice.

JobKeeper is going to be extended and expanded beyond the original end date. The current JobKeeper arrangements ($1500 a fortnight for full time staff, $750 for part time staff) will remain in place until 27 September 2020 and the JobKeeper program itself has been extended until 28 March 2021.

Other than the change to employee eligibility, which is discussed below, all other changes to the JobKeeper scheme take effect from 28 September 2020.

What are the key changes?

There have been some significant changes to JobKeeper:

Business eligibility test:

To be eligible for the period between 28 September 2020 and 3 January 2021, a business will need to demonstrate that their actual GST turnover has significantly fallen in the September 2020 quarter (July, August, September), relative to a comparable period (generally the corresponding quarter in 2019).

To be eligible for the period from 4 January 2021 until 28 March 2021, a business must show that their actual GST turner has significantly fallen in the December 2020 quarter (October, November, December), relative to a comparable period (generally the corresponding quarters in 2019).

Different payment rates apply in these two periods, see below for further information.

Employee eligibility test:

The employee eligibility criteria mostly remain the same however, the date of eligibility will now be 1 July 2020. This means that employees will qualify for JobKeeper if they were employed by an eligible employer on 1 July 2020 and agree to be nominated for the payments. If these employees agree to be nominated for JobKeeper, your business can receive payments for these employees now under the current arrangements and under the extended scheme.

For the fortnights commencing on 3 August and 17 August 2020, employers have until 31 August 2020 to meet the wage condition (i.e. pay eligible employees $1,500 per fortnight) for new eligible employees under the 1 July eligibility date.

Payment rates:

There are different payment rates which depend on hours worked, which will take effect from 28 September 2020:

From 28 September 2020 until 3 January 2021:

Employees who worked 20 hours or more a week on average in the four weeks before either 1 March 2020 or 1 July 2020 will receive $1200 a fortnight.

Employees who worked less than 20 hours a week on average will receive $750 a fortnight.

From 4 January 2021 until 28 March 2021:

Employees who worked 20 hours or more a week on average in the four weeks before either 1 March 2020 or 1 July 2020 will receive $1000 a fortnight.

Employees who worked less than 20 hours a week on average will receive $650 a fortnight.

Where to find more information

The Treasury released a fact sheet on 10 August 2020 which provides more detail on the JobKeeper Payment: https://treasury.gov.au/coronavirus/jobkeeper

JobKeeper information is also available on the Australian Tax Office website: https://www.ato.gov.au/General/COVID-19/Support-for-businesses-and-employers/

JobKeeper employee nomination form: https://www.ato.gov.au/forms/jobkeeper-payment---employee-nomination-notice/

Advice or assistance

For further advice or assistance on this topic, or any workplace relations matter, Employment Plus clients have free access to the Ai Group Workplace Advice Line.

Call 1300 862 217 8:30am-5:15pm AEST Mon-Fri

The information contained in this article is based on information available at the time of writing (20 August 2020) and does not constitute legal or financial advice.