JobKeeper Claim & Monthly Declaration

5 May 2020

The JobKeeper first monthly claim is now open. Eligible employers/business participants/sole traders can lodge claims via the ATO portal (MyGov for Sole traders). If you require assistance, please contact this office. Please note the JobKeeper payment won’t be processed until the monthly report is submitted to the ATO.

Timing of monthly report

For April, ATO has extended the due date for entities reporting April current GST turnover and May projected GST turnover from the original due date 7th May to 31 May 2020. if you choose to report your April GST turnover amounts later than 7 May 2020, your JobKeeper payment will also be delayed.

Subsequent monthly current and projected GST turnover must be reported to the ATO by the 7th day of the following month.

The month you are applying for the JobKeeper wage subsidy

The ATO requests eligible employers to confirm the month they are applying for the JobKeeper wage subsidy.

Confirmation number of eligible employees

ATO also requests eligible employers to confirm the number of eligible employees. You may find ATO has prefilled the number of eligible employees for both Fortnight 1 & Fortnight 2. Please double check the numbers.

If you have not notified the ATO via STP, you will need to provide the eligible employee’s TFN and date of birth manually on the ATO portal.

TIP: Remember that means for each eligible employee who returned their signed nomination form, they must have been paid at least $1,500 gross before tax each fortnight, or if paid monthly at least $3,250 (being the rate which on average is at least $1,500 per fortnight).

Eligible Business participant

If you intend to claim a business participant, double check the eligibility criteria and provide eligible business participant’s TFN and date of birth.

GST turnover

Eligible employers are requested to advise the

• Current April 2020 GST turnover

• Projected May 2020 GST turnover

We expect in the following months’ declarations, you would be required to provide similar information for the relevant period.

The ATO may review Jobkeeper backing records for up to 5 years and therefore it is essential that detailed records supporting all disclosures are kept by you.

TIP: Remember to perform normal processes, such as month end reconciliations, before finalising the declaration of GST Turnover, keep the detailed supporting reports, and keep some detail of the way you projected the coming month.

The GST turnover method used each month i.e. cash or accrual needs to be consistent. It should be the same method used when you checked your comparison turnover for eligibility to Jobkeeper.

PLEASE NOTE, Projected GST turnover and current GST turnover excludes the following

• GST you included in sales to your customers (if any)

• sales that are input taxed sales (for example, bank interest, sale of shares, residential rental income)

• sales not connected with an enterprise that you carry on (for example, sale of private car)

• sales that are not made for payment (unless a taxable supply to an associate)

• payments for no supply (for example, JobKeeper payments)

• cash flow boost (PAYG tax rebate) income

Important: Clients should not act solely on the basis of the material contained in this newsletter. Items herein are general comments only and do not constitute or convey advice per se. Also changes in legislation may occur quickly. We therefore recommend that our formal advice be sought before acting in any of the areas. Client Alert is issued as a helpful guide to clients and for their private information. Therefore, it should be regarded as confidential and not be made available to any person without our prior approval.