Extension of time to enrol for the JobKeeper scheme
JobKeeper Payment
The Tax Commissioner has extended the time to enrol for the initial JobKeeper periods, from 30 April 2020 until 31 May 2020.
If you enrol by 31 May you will still be able to claim for the fortnights in April and May, provided you meet all the eligibility requirements for each of those fortnights. This includes having paid your employees by the appropriate date for each fortnight.
For the first two fortnights (30 March – 12 April, 13 April – 26 April), the ATO will accept the minimum $1,500 payment for each fortnight has been paid by you even if it has been paid late, provided it is paid by 8 May 2020. If you do not pay your staff by this date, you will not be able to claim JobKeeper for the first two fortnights.
You can enrol and claim for JobKeeper earlier if you choose. For example, you can enrol by the end of April to claim JobKeeper payments for the two fortnights in April.
Update to JobKeeper rules
To ensure the integrity and the efficient operation of the JobKeeper Payment scheme, the Government is clarifying the operation of some rules:
- employees employed through a special purpose entity, rather than an operating entity
- charities and the treatment of government revenue
- religious practitioners
- ‘one in all in’ principles
- full-time students aged 16 and 17 years old
- international aid organisations, and
- universities.