JobKeeper 2: Interested in an extra $42,000 for your business?

During COVID 19 the government stimulus options on offer have been constantly changing and JobKeeper is no different.

The second stage of JobKeeper is going to begin on Monday, 28 September 2020, and for an eligible business with 5 employees that work full time, this could mean an additional $42,000 of funding.

Here’s how it works

1.   Jobkeeper 2 (stage 1) will run from 28 September 2020 to 3 January 2021.

2.   There are two payment rates for JobKeeper 2: $1,200 per fortnight and $750 per fortnight.

3.   The lower rate applies for employees that worked on average less than 20 hours per week in the 4 weeks of pay periods before 1 March 2020 or 1 July 2020.

4.   As the business owner, it is possible to still receive JobKeeper, however you will need to meet the hours requirements at point 3.

5.   To be eligible in a turnover sense, the business has to compare the Actual GST Turnover for September 2020 quarter against that of the September 2019 quarter (using your BAS).

What do I do from here?

We are currently in the process of reviewing eligibility for all of our clients and a member of our team will be in contact by Friday 2 October 2020 regarding the next steps.

A number of our business clients have already qualified, while some have narrowly missed out and a lot are now well over the JobKeeper 2 decline in turnover requirements.

Here is what we are looking at to determine eligibility:

Firstly, we are looking at your businesses September 2020 quarterly GST Turnover figures to date. This is the September 2020 quarter income as you would report on your BAS, excluding a number of government stimulus payments (ie JobKeeper & cash flow boost), and less the GST on the income.

We note there are a number of other adjustments to consider (for GST turnover) and simple allocation errors in your accounting software can mean that on the face of it, your business misses out on JobKeeper 2, when in fact it qualifies.

With the estimated figures for the September 2020 quarter, these are then compared to your September 2019 quarter BAS (or if a monthly lodger, July, August and September 2019 BAS’s). Is the decline 30%? If the answer is yes, then on the face of it you qualify for JobKeeper 2.

Like anything, the devil is in the detail, there are a number of alternative tests that may apply to your business, that alter the 30% turnover decline requirement. In addition you may be including income in the turnover that is not GST turnover.

We know how hard it can be to understand some of the JobKeeper rules in detail, so don’t hesitate to contact the team at Sharp Accounting if you are unsure or need advice.