JobKeeper – you may now be able to make a claim for new employees!

Updated 18 August 2020

A legislative instrument was released on 14th August 2020, amending the JobKeeper rules announced earlier, in respect of claiming the subsidy for new employees.

Summary of the new changes:

In summary, from 3rd August 2020:

  • The reference date for assessing which employees are eligible for the JobKeeper payment is 1 July 2020.
  • Applies for fortnights beginning on or after 3 August 2020.
  • For fortnights commencing on 3 August 2020 and 17 August 2020, employers will have until 31 August 2020 to meet the wage condition for new eligible employees (i.e.: ensuring they are paid the minimum amount of $1,500 per fortnight).
  • You must enrol the new employees by 31 August 2020.
  • Employees or Eligible business participants may re-nominate with a new employer. To re-nominate, the individual must have ceased their employment before 1 July 2020, and commenced employment with new employer prior to 1 July 2020.

The eligibility of existing employees on JobKeeper requires no re-assessment. 

Scenarios that require re-assessment:

The following are scenarios whereby employees may now be eligible, and further assessment is required:

  1. Casuals who now satisfy the 12-month timing using the 1 July 2020 date
  2. Employees who were employed by the business between 2 March 2020 and 1 July 2020
  3. An employee who now meets the age or Visa status using the 1 July 2020 date
  4. An employee who was receiving JobKeeper with an employer, lost their job, and was re-employed by an employer entitled to receive JobKeeper prior to 1 July 2020

This is imperative to ensure that you comply with the “on in, all in” rule.

Here is a link to the new employee nomination form:

Click Here for JobKeeper Employee Nomination Notice (1 July employees only)

What we still don’t know:

The legislative instrument also confirms that a separate instrument will soon be released outlining details regarding the newly proposed extension periods and 2 tiers of payments that will kick in post 27th September 2020.

This will outline for us the specifics surrounding how GST turnover will be calculated, and hopefully the Alternate tests that we can also use to assess employer eligibility.

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