There has been additional changes made to the JobKeeper scheme since our August article.
Businesses will now need to meet one of the decline in turnover tests for the September 2020 quarter alone to be eligible for JobKeeper for the period 28 September 2020 to 3 January 2021. This supersedes the July announcement that a significant fall in turnover was required for both the June and September quarters.
Beyond that, businesses will have to meet the decline in turnover tests for the December 2020 quarter to be eligible for JobKeeper for the period 4 January to 28 March 2021.
For the eligible employee test, the reference date for assessing which employees are eligible for JobKeeper is now 1 July 2020 (previously 1 March) with effect from fortnight 10 (3 August 2020).
The reference period for employees regarding their hours worked to determine their tier of payment will be the two fortnightly pay periods prior to 1 March 2020 or 1 July 2020. The period with the higher number of hours is to be used for employees who were eligible at 1 March 2020.
The ATO had already extended the wage condition deadline to 31 August for fortnights 10 and 11.
More details on the latest changes and extension to the JobKeeper scheme are available here.