Jobkeeper/Jobseeker and Other Government COVID-19 Responses

[Denali]

Jobkeeper FYI



Link:

JobKeeper payment - employee nomination notice

Complete this form to notify eligible employees that you intend to claim the JobKeeper payment and ask them if they agree to be nominated by you.

www.ato.gov.au

 

[Pushka]

Jobkeeper FYI

View attachment 214556

Link:

JobKeeper payment - employee nomination notice

Complete this form to notify eligible employees that you intend to claim the JobKeeper payment and ask them if they agree to be nominated by you.

www.ato.gov.au

Yep. Already sent it off the relevant people here.

 

[RooFlyer]

My accountant's firm just e-mailed me:

Tax agents will now be able to enrol for JobKeeper on behalf of their clients from 20 April 2020 using Online services for agents.

The five-step process will include providing clients’ bank details, specifying the number of clients’ employees eligible for the first two fortnights, and receiving confirmation that employees are eligible and have been notified of the incoming payments.

Agents will then be able to help their clients claim the first two fortnight payments by submitting a report through Online services for agents or the business portal between 4 May and 31 May 2020.

 

[Denali]

Employees must complete a Jobkeeper Employee Nomination form to "Notify eligible employees that you intend to participate and ask them if they agree to be nominated and receive payments from employer as part of the scheme". Edit: You dont need to send form to ATO but must keep on record.

Theres work to be done via payroll software for correct/exact Jobkeeper coding so the ATO can pick up via STP reporting. Its to be paid as an Allowance and correct descriptions must be created in software. If the software code wording is incorrrect, there will be issues getting paid from the ATO. ie, Allowance created as JOBKEEPER-TOPUP plus you have to have JOBKEEPER-START-FN## reference. No super applicable to payments. No answer on Payroll Tax applicable but expect it wont be, just like Parental Leave payments are not applicable.

Im told you have to have this locked down by end of April to qualify (at this stage). Not sure what happens if an employer starts JobKeeper/stand downs after April, waiting for response on that.

Employer must have registration completed by end of April, scheme opens for registration 20th April, including Employee Nomination form.

Monthly employer declaration required to receive payments

 

[blackcat20]

Employees must complete a Jobkeeper Employee Nomination form to "Notify eligible employees that you intend to participate and ask them if they agree to be nominated and receive payments from employer as part of the scheme". Edit: You dont need to send form to ATO but must keep on record.

Theres work to be done via payroll software for correct/exact Jobkeeper coding so the ATO can pick up via STP reporting. Its to be paid as an Allowance and correct descriptions must be created in software. If the software code wording is incorrrect, there will be issues getting paid from the ATO. ie, Allowance created as JOBKEEPER-TOPUP plus you have to have JOBKEEPER-START-FN## reference. No super applicable to payments. No answer on Payroll Tax applicable but expect it wont be, just like Parental Leave payments are not applicable.

Im told you have to have this locked down by end of April to qualify (at this stage). Not sure what happens if an employer starts JobKeeper/stand downs after April, waiting for response on that.

Employer must have registration completed by end of April, scheme opens for registration 20th April, including Employee Nomination form.

Monthly employer declaration required to receive payments

I'm waiting for info for sole traders, its all a bit murky to me at the moment. Particularly the qualification period. My business is down 40% so far this year

 

[Denali]

I'm waiting for info for sole traders, its all a bit murky to me at the moment. Particularly the qualification period. My business is down 40% so far this year

Its murky because things are changing almost daily. Last Thursday the ATO was in discussion groups who were the ones asking questions/throwing up roadblocks so things changed again.

Todays (16.04.20) Webinar I attended will be up on their youtube channel in a couple of hours or their website will link it: TAPS The Association for Payroll Specialists

Todays was about Jobkeeper payments

 

[Denali]

I’d have expected just to process payroll as normal and that wouldn’t need special coding. It’s all STP.

Nope. Jobkeeper or top ups are coded other than ordinary for STP/auditing. ATO very specific about the coding, it must be exact or employers will not receive payment.

Example of a screen from todays Webinar but TAPS will have it on their Youtube channel in a couple of hours.

Note, its JOBKEEPER-TOPUP, the slide missing the hyphen

 

[Pushka]

Nope. Jobkeeper or top ups are coded other than ordinary for STP/auditing. ATO very specific about the coding, it must be exact or employers will not receive payment.

Example of a screen from todays Webinar but TAPS will have it on their Youtube channel in a couple of hours.

Note, its JOBKEEPER-TOPUP, the slide missing the hyphen
View attachment 214965

View attachment 214964

Of course we paid someone on 30th March so had to undo a reconciliation, didnt we, then retract the Payroll then redo! And which of course has already been lodged for BAS 3!

 

[blackcat20]

Its murky because things are changing almost daily. Last Thursday the ATO was in discussion groups who were the ones asking questions/throwing up roadblocks so things changed again.

Todays (16.04.20) Webinar I attended will be up on their youtube channel in a couple of hours or their website will link it: TAPS - The Association for Payroll Specialists - Home page content. Todays was about Jobkeeper payments

This is all the ATO says:
Sole traders can be eligible for the JobKeeper payment if their business has experienced a downturn according to the eligibility criteria. We will provide more information soon about the eligibility of sole traders for the JobKeeper payment.

 

[lovetravellingoz]

Nope. Jobkeeper or top ups are coded other than ordinary for STP/auditing. ATO very specific about the coding, it must be exact or employers will not receive payment.

Example of a screen from todays Webinar but TAPS will have it on their Youtube channel in a couple of hours.

Note, its JOBKEEPER-TOPUP, the slide missing the hyphen
View attachment 214965

View attachment 214964

Many pays will already have been issued. What happens for pays already issued? Obviously they will not have been coded.


Also with super I not it states "not required", rather than "shall not be" So I assume that if you wish to pay the SGC on whatever the full salary is (ie Jobkeeper amount plus the balance) that one still can?

 

[Pushka]

Many pays will already have been issued. What happens for pays already issued? Obviously they will not have been coded.


Also with super I not it sates "not required", rather than "shall not be" So I assume that if you wish to pay the SGC on whatever the full salary is (ie Jobkeeper amount plus the balance) that once still can?

Its probably totally wrong but I had 3 pays already recorded and with STP as with MYOB thats what you have to do. So I did the new pay with the additional JOBKEEPER-START-FN01 as above and then deleted the original ones! I cant see any other way to do it.

It seems you only have to do this for the first pay and then it can be deleted or not used as this code must just flag the employee. If you dont intend to change the super amount then this code is all you need to do and leave MYOB or whatever to calculate super and tax as per normal.

 

[Denali]

Many pays will already have been issued. What happens for pays already issued? Obviously they will not have been coded.


Also with super I not it states "not required", rather than "shall not be" So I assume that if you wish to pay the SGC on whatever the full salary is (ie Jobkeeper amount plus the balance) that one still can?

Advise from the webinar was to talk to your software provider (if you dont already know what to do) in regards to recoding the transactions.

Advise is the ATO will not make any payments to employer without correct coding of Jobkeeper payments.

Post automatically merged: Apr 16, 2020

Of course we paid someone on 30th March so had to undo a reconciliation, didnt we, then retract the Payroll then redo! And which of course has already been lodged for BAS 3!

I wouldnt jump today and make changes, let the dust settle for another week but yeah - Im going to be reviewing codes and expecting a software patch upgrade next week

 

[Pushka]

Advise from the webinar was to talk to your software provider (if you dont already know what to do) in regards to recoding the transactions.

Advise is the ATO will not make any payments to employer without correct coding of Jobkeeper payments.

Post automatically merged: Apr 16, 2020

I wouldnt jump today and make changes, let the dust settle for another week but yeah - Im going to be reviewing codes and expecting a software patch upgrade next week

I checked with MYOB and they suggested this:
"This is what I would recommend to do to adjust what has already been reported (once support note is updated). Do a nil payroll and allocate to the correct category. Then when you report the adjustment via STP declaration it will re-align. "

I do know from a previous experience that when you resubmit through STP it all aligns up and doesnt duplicate.

 

[Denali]

I checked with MYOB and they suggested this:
"This is what I would recommend to do to adjust what has already been reported (once support note is updated). Do a nil payroll and allocate to the correct category. Then when you report the adjustment via STP declaration it will re-align. "

I do know from a previous experience that when you resubmit through STP it all aligns up and doesnt duplicate.

Yes, Ive found that if I make adjustments STP updates to the most recent (or most current) upload.

 

[lovetravellingoz]

Advise from the webinar was to talk to your software provider (if you dont already know what to do) in regards to recoding the transactions.

Thank you. Mine is Xero and so given is widespread use I assume that they will make the required changes if they have not already..

 

[Pushka]

Yes, Ive found that if I make adjustments STP updates to the most recent (or next) upload.

Thankyou so much for alerting me (and others) to this.

It seems we only have to do this for the first pay we make for claiming jobkeeper?

We are still paying the usual wage and super calc on the lot even though hours worked are way under the usual times. So in that sense it is easy.

 

[lovetravellingoz]

On Xero.

Looking now:

Overview

• Xero’s JobKeeper feature is coming soon. In the meantime, set up a new pay item in Xero Payroll if you need to record JobKeeper payments.
• Once Xero’s new feature is available, we’ll explain how to edit the pay item so it can be reported to the ATO with STP.

Though I have already done a pay run. So might as it is only my wife and I may just see if we can cancel what was already done. It was filed though as in Xero it is just a click at the end. But I note your dust settle comment and so will just hold tight for a week.

 

[Denali]

Thank you. Mine ix Xero and so given is widespread use I assume that they will make the required changes if they have not already..

I will be surprised if SAGE Micropay doesnt have a patch update for us in about a week otherwise I'll be working on correct Allowance code setups.

Thankyou so much for alerting me (and others) to this.

It seems we only have to do this for the first pay we make for claiming jobkeeper?

We are still paying the usual wage and super calc on the lot even though hours worked are way under the usual times. So in that sense it is easy.

From what I recall from todays webinar, each fortnight payment you have to change the "FN##" number but Im not 100% sure so Im waiting for the webinar to be uploaded to their YT channel to revisit.

 

[Pushka]

I will be surprised if SAGE Micropay doesnt have a patch update for us in about a week otherwise I'll be working on correct Allowance code setups.



From what I recall from todays webinar, each fortnight payment you have to change the "FN##" number but but Im not 100% sure so Im waiting for the webinar to be uploaded to their YT channel to revisit.

I just watched it, it seems like these codes are only used at the moment which suggest its just highlighting a Start date? We are already on to the next pay after so wont put any more through for a bit. MYOB are suggesting it is only done by adding the payroll category and so wont be doing a patch.

01	30/03/2020 - 12/04/2020	JOBKEEPER-START-FN01
02	13/04/2020 - 26/04/2020	JOBKEEPER-START-FN02
03	27/04/2020 - 10/05/2020	JOBKEEPER-START-FN03
04	11/05/2020 - 24/05/2020	JOBKEEPER-START-FN04 etc

 

[lovetravellingoz]

I just watched it, it seems like these codes are only used at the moment which suggest its just highlighting a Start date? We are already on to the next pay after so wont put any more through for a bit. MYOB are suggesting it is only done by adding the payroll category and so wont be doing a patch.

01	30/03/2020 - 12/04/2020	JOBKEEPER-START-FN01
02	13/04/2020 - 26/04/2020	JOBKEEPER-START-FN02
03	27/04/2020 - 10/05/2020	JOBKEEPER-START-FN03
04	11/05/2020 - 24/05/2020	JOBKEEPER-START-FN04 etc

Bare in mind that while Jobkeeper is fornightly that people are paid weekly, fortnightly, monthly and quarterly. So there needs to be some allowance for this.