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6 Steps To Jobkeeper



The 6 Steps of Jobkeeper Wage Subsidy  


Step 1            Establish eligibility for your business

Establish & Lodge Decline In Turnover – Minimum Requirements


ATO lodgement opens here on Monday 20th April and you must register before 30th April 2020 for April inclusion. If your business is NOT eligible in March / April but becomes eligible later, you can enrol at that time.

  • Businesses with over $1bn turnover per year need to declare 50% decline in revenue
  • Smaller businesses need to declare 30% decline in revenue
  • Not For Profits registered with ACNC need to declare 50% decline in revenue

Eligible Comparatives

  • 2019 Tax Returns
  • 2019 BAS Lodgements
  • 2020 BAS Lodgements (for businesses not trading in 2019 FY)
  • P & L comparatives (for businesses not registered for GST)
  • Cash Flow Forecasting (for businesses not yet affected in March 2020 but likely to be affected next reporting period)

This is an online form and you will be asked to enter your bank details and claim entitlement – eg as an Employer of Employees and / or eligible business participation such as:-

  • Sole Trader self claiming
  • One Partner from a Partnership
  • One Beneficiary from a Trust
  • One Director or Shareholder from a Company

Step 2            Establish eligibility for your employees


Employers to send the Employee Nomination Form here to be completed and returned before 30th April 2020. Eligible employees are those you employed

  • Permanent full time, part time or fixed term contract BEFORE 1st March 2020
  • Casual employees you have employed on a regular or systematic basis BEFORE 1st March 2019
  • Apprentices that are NOT claiming the wage subsidy through the RTO
  • Employees that have NOT been, or agreed to be, nominated by another employer 
  • Employees that are NOT receiving JOBSEEKER payments

Step 3      Process payments to your employees BEFORE 30th April 2020


You MUST pay your employees BEFORE you receive the Jobkeeper subsidy from the ATO.  

For April you MUST pay your employees a minimum of $3000 Gross BEFORE the end of 30th April 2020 (and then the minimum payments for each of the subsequent months).

  • You cannot claim the JobKeeper payment on behalf of employees who were not paid at least $1,500 before tax during each JobKeeper payment period.
  • The JobKeeper payment to you / your business is a reimbursement from the ATO to an employer in arrears and cannot be paid in advance in any circumstances. 
  • If you are a self-employed, sole trader, a partner in a partnership or a trustee in a trust then it is not necessary that you pay yourself $1500 per fortnight
  • Note – Only ONE non-payroll business owner per entity is eligible 

Step 4            Notify the ATO of your eligibility for your business owner and/or employees after 4th May


Employers with STP enabled payroll software will use this to lodge / notify the ATO of payments made to eligible employees which will then be reimbursed after 4th May 2020

For employers not using STP compliant software, we can either lodge this information for you through our Tax Agent Portal, or you can lodge yourself using your Business Portal.

Your MyGovID will be required (this is very different from your MyGov account but again, we can help with this here.  

Step 5            Receipt your monthly Jobkeeper payments from the ATO

  • The payments you receive from the ATO are assessable income but not subject to GST.
  • They do not affect your future GST / BAS Lodgements.
  • You do NOT need reconcile this income against your employees payments.
  • You will need to include this income in your tax return at the end of each applicable financial year.    

Step 6            Lodge your monthly Jobkeeper Declaration Report


You are required to lodge a monthly Jobkeeper Declaration Report to confirm

  • Your reported employees are still eligible
  • Your actual turnover figures and projected turnover figures for month ahead

Reporting an increase in revenue will NOT change your eligibility for the Jobkeeper payments.

Non-STP enabled employers and business owners not receiving wages processed in payroll software (such as sole traders, directors and trust beneficiaries) will be able to lodge manually using the Tax Agent or Business Portal (authenticated with MyGovID)  

Chequers Financial Services can help you with every step in this process - including monthly lodging of the declarations on your behalf - much the same way we can prepare and lodge your tax. 

Contact us today for more details and a low priced fixed fee.