The Government’s $130 billion JobKeeper scheme — the largest financial lifeline package in Australia’s history and is expected to be accessed by about 6 million workers — was passed last night with the support of both sides of Parliament. However, the Bill still needs Royal Assent and there are some big gaps in the detail that the government is ironing out today/tonight.
The Bill gives the Treasurer the power to make rules by way of a legislative instrument that provides for payments by the Commissioner. An exposure draft of the “Coronavirus Economic Response Package (Payments and Benefits) Rules 2020” was temporarily available on the Treasury website today, but was later taken down. We expect the Rules (either in exposure draft or final form) to be reissued once the legislation is enacted and we will be able to provide guidance to you once they have been released. Lots of the uncertainty relates to the ATO discretion and integrity measures.
Here’s a quick recap of what it’s offering:
- Businesses affected by COVID-19 can receive $1,500 per employee, per fortnight
- The businesses must pass the payment on to their staff
- The wage subsidy package is budgeted for six months
- As of Wednesday morning, 750,000 businesses had signed up and that number is growing
Thanks to Robyn Jacobson at Tax Banter, here is a great visual summary of what we know right now:
- An ‘active’ business means the entity has lodged by 12 March 2020 either:
- its 2019 tax return that includes assessable income from business in 2018–19; or
- an activity statement reporting a GST supply from 1 July 2018 to 31 December 2019 (quarterly) or to 29 February 2020 (monthly).
As mentioned above, we are still waiting for clarification and we will update you as soon as the information is to hand.
In the meantime, should you have any questions or need any help ensuring you receive all available assistance, please reach out to our team at Rose Partners and we will endeavour to do our best to assist.
Stay Safe.
The Team at Rose Partners
