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JobKeeper Payment

On the 30th of March 2020, the Australian Federal Government announced a new wage subsidy measure to combat job losses and grant businesses the means to pay staff.

The package has been dubbed the ‘JobKeeper’ payment and will be worth $130 billion, securing income for an estimated six million Australian workers.

You can then register your interest with the ATO to receive the JobKeeper Payment. Employers are also required to complete the JobKeeper employee nomination notice.

To learn more about JobKeeper Payment, please visit the ATO's website.


What is JobKeeper 1.0?

  • Employers affected by COVID-19 related revenue loss will be paid $1,500 per fortnight, per employee.
  • Business must have suffered at least 30% in revenue losses to qualify.
  • This $1,500 (before tax) per fortnight will be paid to your employees (through you) for six months.
  • Reimbursements of JobKeeper Payments per eligible employee from the ATO will begin from the 1st week of May, 2020.
  • Reimbursements are 'backdated' to March 30, 2020, but casual staff need to have been employed for 12 months or longer.

What is JobKeeper 2.0?

  • Due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and the impact on Australian businesses, the Federal Government has extended JobKeeper until March 2021 for qualifying businesses.
  • The payments are reducing to $1200 a fortnight for full time equivalent employees and $750 a fortnight for part time equivalent employees.
  • In Quarter 4 (January to March 2021), the payments further reduce to $1000 a fortnight and $650 a fortnight respectively.
  • Employees will either be a JobKeeper Tier 1 employee or a JobKeeper Tier 2 employee. This is determined by how many hours they worked in the month before becoming eligible for JobKeeper. It is an employer's responsibility to determine the JobKeeper tier.

How do you transition to JobKeeper 2.0?

  • If you are already receiving payments under JobKeeper 1.0, you do not need to register for JobKeeper 2.0. Continuing to report will indicate to the ATO that your business is continuing into the second phase of the program.
  • If an employee has already nominated you as their JobKeeper employer, you do not need to obtain another nomination form to continue into JobKeeper 2.0.
  • For each eligible employee you will need to determine their tier. For more information on how to determine an employee's tier, please refer to the ATO website.

What if I am not continuing into JobKeeper 2.0?

  • If your business is not continuing into the second phase of JobKeeper you do not need to do anything aside from your final JobKeeper report at the end of September 2020. By not continuing to report, this will indicate to the ATO that your JobKeeper payments should cease and that the employer and the employees have left the program.


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How to process JobKeeper Payments


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