JobKeeper Payment
What’s Its Purpose?
The JobKeeper payment is a wage subsidy of $1,500 (before tax) per fortnight for each employee or sole trader for up to a 6 month period. The goal is to support businesses impacted by Coronavirus and keep more Australians in their jobs.
Eligibility Criteria
Employers:
- Businesses with a turnover of over $1 billion, if they have had their revenue decrease by 50% or more.
- Businesses with a turnover under $1 billion, if they have had their revenue decrease by 30% of more.
- Who are not subject to the Major Bank Levy.
- Self-employed individuals will be eligible where they have had their revenue decline by at least 30% from the prior year.
Employees:
- Full-time, part-time and casual workers, as well as sole-traders
- Employees must be on the books as of the 1st of March 2020 (if they’ve already been stood down they can be reinstated to receive the payment)
- Casual workers must have been working for their employer for at least 12 months.
How to Apply:
- Register your business details and intention to claim with the ATO here.
- Payments will be administered via Single Touch Payroll (STP) system.
Relevant Dates:
The payments will start from the 1st of May, 2020. They will be backdated to the 1st of March 2020.
More Information:
Boosting Cash Flow for Employers
What’s Its Purpose?
The package is designed to keep small to medium businesses operating by providing them with a temporary cash-flow boost. Eligible businesses will now receive up to two tax-free payments, equal to 100 percent of salaries and wages withheld, up to a maximum amount of $50,000 each. By linking payments to employee tax withholdings, the Government is banking on businesses retaining staff to maximise payment eligibility.
Eligibility Criteria
- SME’s with an annual turnover (prior year) of under $50 million that have employees between the 1st of January 2020 and the 30th of June 2020 are eligible.
- Businesses that withhold tax to the ATO on their employees’ salary and wages will receive a payment equal to 100 per cent of the amount withheld, up to a maximum payment of $50,000 (per payment).
- Businesses that pay salaries and wages will receive a minimum of $10,000 (per payment), regardless if they are required to withhold tax or not.
How to Apply:
Payments are automatic and will be delivered by the ATO as a credit within two weeks.
Relevant Dates:
First Payment Lodgement Due Date: 28th April 2020
Additional payments will be credited from the 21st of July 2020 until October 2020.
More Information:
Cash Flow Assistance for Businesses (Pages 1 – 4)
Supporting Apprentices and Trainees
What’s Its Purpose?
The Government is supporting small businesses to retain their apprentices and other trainees via a 50% wage subsidy. This measure will aid around 70,000 small businesses and over 115,000 trainee staff.
Eligibility Criteria
- The subsidy will be available to small businesses employing fewer than 20 full-time employees who retain an apprentice or trainee.
- The apprentice or trainee must have been in training with a small business as of the 1st of March 2020.
How Much:
A wage subsidy of 50% of the trainee or apprentice wages, for up to 9 months starting from the 1st of January 2020 to the 30th of September 2020. The maximum claim is $7,000 per quarter or $21,000 in total.
How to Apply:
Payments will be paid directly to companies after they’ve been assessed by an Australian Apprenticeship Support Network provider.
Relevant Dates:
Assessments and payments will start from April 2020.
More Information:
Cash Flow Assistance for Businesses (Pages 5 – 6)
Immediate Cash Flow Support for SMEs
What’s Its Purpose?
The Government is supporting SME’s access to much needed immediate cash flow. The Government will guarantee 50 per cent of all new loans issued by eligible lenders to SME’s. This guarantee will cover up to $20 billion, supporting $40 billion in new loans to SME’s. This comes alongside The Australian Banking Association’s announcement to defer loan repayments for small businesses for six months.
Eligibility Criteria
- Banks, non-bank lenders and SMEs with less than $50 million turnover per year.
- They must be new or existing customers – refinancing of existing customers are not eligible.
Terms:
Loans of up three years and up to $250,000 are eligible. They must be granted within the next six months (starting April 1st 2020), will be repayment free for six months and must be used for working capital.
More Information:
Temporary Relief for Financially Distressed Businesses
What’s Its Purpose?
It is important that businesses facing temporary financial stress due to Coronavirus have a safety net to ensure they can resume normal operations when the virus passes. One element is to lessen the threat of actions that could push them into insolvency and force the winding up of the business.
Relief Measures
- The threshold at which creditors can issue a Statutory Demand or Bankruptcy Notice on a company has been increased from $2,000 to $20,000.
- The time companies or individuals have to respond to Statutory Demands or Bankruptcy Notices they receive has been extended from 21 days to 6 months.
- Temporary relief for directors from personal liability for trading while insolvent. Directors will now have at least 6 months to rectify insolvent trading.
- The Corporations Act 2001 will be amended to implement targeted relief for companies to deal with unforeseen events resulting from the spread of coronavirus.