Payroll Premier 2019/20 JobKeeper Guide

How to add JOBKEEPER-TOPUP allowance item

In order to process JobKeeper payments, an allowance item will need to be added to your Payroll Premier data file.

Go to the Lists menu and click the Allowances item.

Right click in the Allowances list area and select New.

It is extremely important that you name the item exactly as documented to prevent your payments from the ATO being delayed or unavailable to be processed.

The item you need to create is called JOBKEEPER-TOPUP.

This item is used to pay top up amounts to employees who are not being paid $1500 a fortnight. For more information about gap payments, please click here to visit the ATO website.

Configure the new Allowance as follows

Allowance Name

JOBKEEPER-TOPUP

Allowance Type

Other

Calculate Super on Allowance

If you are choosing to pay Superannuation on JobKeeper top up payments tick this box

Payroll Tax Exempt Allowance

If your Australian state has determined that JobKeeper top up payments will be exempt from Payroll Tax, tick this box.

Workcover Exempt Allowance

If your Workcover insurer has exempted JobKeeper payments from workers compensation premiums tick this box.

As the amount will be variable for every employee, click OK to save the item.

Defining eligible employees

When you login to the ATO Business Portal, your Single Touch Payroll report data will be pre-filled into the portal for review. At this time you will be able to define which employees from your reports are eligible for JobKeeper and for which JobKeeper fortnight they became eligible. You will also be able to define which Tier the employees are eligible for with JobKeeper 2.0.

Once you have submitted your claim including this information, the ATO will process your reports and send the refund to the bank account you entered during JobKeeper enrolment on the ATO business portal.

Processing a JobKeeper payrun in Payroll Premier 2019/20

The process for a JobKeeper payrun in Payroll Premier, is very similar to how you would already have been paying your employees.

Pay is over $1500 fortnight for employee prior to JobKeeper

Pay the employee as normal using regular wages and salary items and submit your Single Touch Payroll reports via Reckon GovConnect STP.

Pay is under $1500 fortnight for employee and has a JOBKEEPER-TOPUP component

The process for this is very similar to a normal payrun, however an additional item must be included for the top up component that builds the employees pay up to $1500.

So for example in the below, Ken Kerekes is receiving $1000 payment for work performed via a salary.

In this scenario, the employer is required to pay $500 gross JOBKEEPER-TOPUP to meet the requirements of the JobKeeper program. To do this click the Allowance tab.

$500 is added as a JOBKEEPER-TOPUP item to ensure the employee is paid $1500 a fortnight. After this you can process the pay as normal and report STP through Reckon GovConnect STP as normal. This will ensure the JOBKEEPER-TOPUP component is recorded as required.

Leave Requirements

For information about leave requirements for employees during JobKeeper please consult the Fairwork Australia website.

If after consulting the website you are required to accrue leave on a employee without them working (ie. the employee has been fully stood down from the business), you may need to change their leave accruals to handle this. To determine whether you should be doing this, it is best to speak to your bookkeeper or accountant first for advice.

The below information is general in nature and should not necessarily be relied upon for every businesses circumstance.

If you are required to accrue leave on a employee even though they are not working, you may need to change their accrual details for leave.

To do this, open the employees profile (click the Employees icon on the top bar and then double click the employees name) and then click the Leave tab.

In the leave tab, one way to achieve accruing leave whilst not paying employees is to set the Accrual Details period to Pays. This means that every time the employee has a payrun processed, even if its only for JobKeeper or for a $0 payment, leave will be accrued to the employees profile. You will need to adjust the Accrue Hrs amount to the amount a employee usually accrues per pay period when working for your business.

If you need some direct advice on calculating this for your business please contact Fairwork Australia or your bookkeeper/accountant.

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