JobKeeper FAQs

Frequently Asked Questions about JobKeeper Payments

Thiya avatar
Written by Thiya
Updated over a week ago

1. Do you pay PAYG withholding and superannuation on the JobKeeper Payment?


You must pay a minimum of $1,500 (before tax) per fortnight to your eligible employees, withholding income tax as appropriate. If an employee is paid more than $1,500 per fortnight, your superannuation obligations will not change.

Where an employee is having their wages topped up to $1,500 per fortnight by the JobKeeper Payment, it will be up to the employer if they want to pay superannuation on any additional wages paid by the JobKeeper Payment.
You cannot use the $1,500 per fortnight towards superannuation contributions.

2. I am a sole trader/business participant with NO employees - what do I do to claim JobKeeper payment?
 
As a business participant, you are not required to report JobKeeper through STP. All you have to do is log into ATO Online services using myGov, or the Business Portal using myGovID to confirm:

  • your details as the sole trader and eligible business participant.

  • the JobKeeper fortnights you are claiming for

  • that you don’t have any employees you are claiming for.

3. I pay my staff monthly, which fortnight in the month do I pick?

Where employees are paid monthly, the first fortnight of the month should be used to report the start date. This allows the ATO to know that the employer should be reimbursed for the full month.

4. How do I make corrections to JobKeeper start fortnight?

ATO design does not support multiple corrections, so take extreme caution to ensure accuracy of original reported JobKeeper data.

Wrong Employee: If the wrong employee was reported as eligible via the use of the "JOBKEEPER-START-FNXX", then cancel this employee from eligible via the use of matching "JOBKEEPER-FINISH-FNXX" where the "XX" fortnights are the same

Incorrect start FN (later): If a later start fortnight is incorrectly reported, report an additional earlier start fortnight. ATO will assume the earliest start fortnight is relevant where no unmatched finish fortnight is reported.

Incorrect start (earlier): If an earlier start fortnight is incorrectly reported, cancel this entry via a matching finish fortnight (cancellation via matching start/finish fortnights) and report an additional later start fortnight

Future-dated start FN: if the JobKeeper start fortnight is greater than the STP Pay Event Pay/Update Date field, then it will be ignored, as if not reported. It will only become valid in the matching JobKeeper fixed fortnight that applies. Do not cancel or otherwise attempt to correct invalid entry.

5. How do I make corrections to JobKeeper finish fortnight?

ATO design does not support multiple corrections, so take extreme caution to ensure accuracy of original reported JobKeeper data.

Wrong Employee: If the wrong employee was reported as eligible via the use of the "JOBKEEPER-FINISH-FNXX", then cancel this employee from eligible via the use of matching "JOBKEEPER-START-FNXX" where the "XX" fortnights are the same

Incorrect finish FN (later): If a later finish fortnight is incorrectly reported, report an additional earlier finish fortnight. ATO will assume the earliest finish fortnight is relevant where no unmatched start fortnight is reported.

Incorrect finish (earlier): If an earlier finish fortnight is incorrectly reported, cancel this entry via a matching start fortnight (cancellation via matching start/finish fortnights) and report an additional later finish fortnight

Future-dated finish FN: if the JobKeeper finish fortnight is greater than the STP Pay Event Pay/Update Date field, then this will assist to inform the ATO that the period reported is the final pay to be claimed, as the employee becomes ineligible in the following fortnight. Finish fortnights greater than the next JobKeeper fortnight are ignored. For example: An employee who becomes ineligible on 30/06/2020 will be reported in the pay period covering that JobKeeper fortnight (FN07) with JOBKEEPER-FINISH-FN08, as the employee may be terminated and not be included in future STP reports.

6. What is changing after September 2020?

JobKeeper has been extended until March 2021 with below updated rules:

  • Eligible staff that worked 20 hours or more each week in February will be eligible for the higher tier, while those that worked less than this threshold are eligible for the lower tier of payments.

  • The higher tier will need to pay $1,200 a fortnight until January 3, 2021. It will then reduce to $1,000 a fortnight until the program ends on March 28, 2021.

  • The lower tier will need to pay $750 a fortnight until January 3, 2021. It will then reduce to $650 a fortnight until the program ends on March 28, 2021.

New Eligibility
JobKeeper eligibility will be re-tested in October and early January 2021, based on turnover decline.
These tests will run along the same turnover criteria as before, but will require businesses to demonstrate an actual decline of turnover. Turnover should decline at least 30% for both the June and September quarters to be eligible for JobKeeper payments covering the December quarter. They should also meet the turnover decline across the December quarter to remain eligible for JobKeeper payments through to March 28, 2021.

7. How to report corrections to TIERs?

If an employee is assigned and reported with an incorrect Tier level, then the following actions should be taken to correct the Tier level:

Reported JK-TIER1 in error – for those employees who were incorrectly reported as Tier 1, but should be Tier 2, then:

Report a correction Other Allowance with description: JK-TIER1X to indicate that the Tier 1 level is incorrect. Report JK-TIER2 description as a new Other Allowance. This option will result in the reporting of 3 different Other Allowances:

  • JK-TIER1

  • JK-TIER1X

  • JK-TIER2

Reported JK-TIER2 in error – for those employees who were incorrectly reported as Tier 1, but should be Tier 2, then:

Report a correction Other Allowance with description: JK-TIER2X to indicate that the Tier 1 level is incorrect. Report JK-TIER1 description as a new Other Allowance. This option will result in the reporting of 3 different Other Allowances:

  • JK-TIER2

  • JK-TIER2X

  • JK-TIER1

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