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DaveSutherland's avatar
DaveSutherland
Former Staff
5 years ago

JobKeeper Subsidy update

Hi everyone, 

 

Just a note that we are busy preparing guidance notes on how our clients will be able to register & process JobKeeper payments to their employees.  

 

At the moment, MYOB is in consultation with the ATO, as is many software providers, working through "how" an employer will need to register their employees to JobKeeper, as well as making the necessary payments, all via the current STP mechanism available in our products.  

 

As the bill is before Federal Parliament today, once the bill(s) passes into law, the ATO will confirm the finer details to software vendors, which will allow us to provide the necessary guidance to both our partners & clients.  

 

I have attached a JobKeeper factsheet the ATO provided, 

 

Once we have further details, I will provide an update accordingly.  

 

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  • DaveSutherland's avatar
    DaveSutherland
    Former Staff
    5 years ago

    Hi everyone,

     

    Just an update regarding the JobKeeper Payment subsidy.   The ATO are in the midst of providing further details to the software vendor or Digitial Service Provider (DSP) community as we speak.   The subsidy has passed royal assent and payments will date back to 30 March 2020, with the first reimbursements to be received by employers in the first week of May. 

     

    What to do right now?

    The main guidance for employers right now is to register their interest in participating in the JobKeeper payment from 30 March 2020 at ato.gov.au/jobkeeper.

     

    What will be next?

    A process has been presented by the ATO and is being discussed with Digital Service Providers (DSPs) in terms of roll-out.  One thing to be aware is that employers will have the opportunity to register eligible employees right up to 26th April for any JobKeeper payments from the 30th March, so there is no need for concern.   

     

    What we know at the moment is the payment will be administered by the ATO, and employers will have 3 options to notify the ATO of eligible employees:

    • Online via an ATO process – Limited to employers with less than 200 employees - at this stage the ATO have not provided timelines on when this process will be ready.
    • via existing STP payevent – this is the preferred method for employers using STP now - it will require an ad-hoc / one off pay to send a record through to the ATO via current STP payevent; and
    • File upload – restricted to employers who are unable to use either of the above.

    In the coming week, MYOB will confirm processes with the ATO, and ensure our systems work as planned, as well, build out the relevant guidance documents of what to do in our solutions.   

     

    If you have any further questions please reply to this message

     

  • DaveSutherland's avatar
    DaveSutherland
    Former Staff
    5 years ago

     

    Hi everyone,
     
    Just an update regarding the JobKeeper Payment subsidy.   The ATO have a final session planned Wed 15th April, with the software vendor /  Digital Service Provider (DSP) community.   We are aiming to have guidance documentation ready for partners / clients within the next 24 / 48 hours, showing what is required to register employees to JobKeeper program using our products and then transacting any top-up payments
     
    What to do right now?
    The main guidance for employers right now is to register their interest in participating in the JobKeeper payment from 30 March 2020 at ato.gov.au/jobkeeper.  Employers must understand and meet the various criteria to be eligble for the subsidy.  Check out the various factsheets here at https://treasury.gov.au/coronavirus/jobkeeper
     
    What will be next?
    A process has been presented by the ATO and is being discussed with Digital Service Providers (DSPs) in terms of roll-out.  One thing to be aware is that employers will have the opportunity to register eligible employees right up to 26th April for any JobKeeper payments from the 30th March, so there is no need for concern.   
     
    How we see the process working at this moment in time
    Employers are being urged to use the STP pay event to notify the ATO of eligible employees.  Employers will be asked to generate a "ad-hoc" pay and use a new pay item, JOBKEEPER-START-FNxx, (where “xx” refers to the fortnightly period from which the payment first started) which will be used to register eligible employees to the JobKeeper, as well as to notify the ATO the fortnight in which the JobKeeper payments started to each employee.   A new Allowance Pay item is to be used as the basis to "signify" registration to the ATO.  The ATO have produced a numbering sequence of the fortnights, so this will be included within our documentation.  
     
    Once registered, employees are then paid there normal salary / wages.  For those employees who are paid $1,500 or more per fortnight (or equivalent), there is no further action required by the employer, as the ATO will now understand what periods the employee is being paid and as such, will provide the correct reimbursement up to the $1,500 per fortnight amount.
     
    For eligible employees who are paid less than $1,500 per fortnight, they must be paid a “top-up” amount to bring their taxable gross to $1,500 per fortnight for paydays within the JobKeeper fortnightly periods. These “top-up” amounts must use a new Allowance payitem, JOBKEEPERTOPUP.  
     
    PLEASE NOTE: Deviations from the exact descriptions on these new Allowance code, including failure to use 2-char to indicate the period number, may significantly delay or prevent reimbursement.  These have not been confirmed, and as of the end of last week were still talking points within the ATO & DSP community.
     
    We will confirm the process in the next 24 / 48 hours
    As you can see, the process will need the correct guidance and still some confirmation from the ATO before we go to market.  As I have seen already today, the MYOB AccountRight team released a wiki article to their client-base, and unfortunately, they did not use the current naming conventions for the new Allowance pay items, and as such, if any clients had implemented using these items, they will have difficulty in receiving the correct subsidy reimbursement amounts.
     
    So after the planned session with the ATO tomorrow, we will be in a great position to launch our guidance documentation to partners in the coming 24 / 48 hours.