Administered by ATO, JobMaker Hiring Credit is another government initiative to boost employment and business recovery. In simple terms, businesses get a rebate from ATO if they hire new employees under the same strict conditions. The registration for this credit started in December 2020. First claim can be made anytime from 1^st Feb 2021 up until 30^th April 2021.

Often as the case is, any initiative from the government tends to come with elaborate conditions. This one is not an exception either. Those who have had experience with JobKeeper payments will resonate with what JobMaker requirements could mean.

For now, we will try to keep it simple.

For now, we will try to keep it simple.

What do we get?

The JobMaker Hiring Credit is claimable at the following rates

Credit can be claimed for eligible employee for a maximum of 12 months. 

Who do we get it for? 

We can claim JobMaker Credit for an eligible employee, being an employee;

• who is above 16 years of age and below 36 years of age on the date employed
• who started employment between 7 October 2020 and 6 October 2021
• who is employed for atleast 20 hours per week on an average including part time, full time or casual
• who should have received Government Assistance payment (JobSeeker Payment, Youth Allowance or Parenting Payment) for atleast 28 days (4 weeks) in the 84 days (12 weeks) prior to starting employment with the business. 

The last eligibility criteria seems to be the hardest to comply. While it might be against Fair Work laws for you to ask at the time of recruitment, post start of employment we would need to go back to them to confirm if they tick this criteria off. Appropriate declarations will be required.

How do we qualify for the payment?

The payment as well as qualification criteria runs over 8 payment periods, per below (called the JobMaker periods);

We can claim JobMaker Hiring Credits for eligible employees for the period in which we;

• are a business (or a not for profit organisation) with ABN and PAYG registration
• be up to date with our tax and BAS lodgments
• not getting any other central government business assistance (e.g. JobKeeper) in the period of claim
• have increased our employment both as a headcount and as payroll cost.

Again, it is the last eligibility criteria for employers which would be the hardest to get. We achieve this criteria if, in simplistic terms (for the first 4 claim periods);

• headcount of all employees on our books at end of a JobMaker period is higher than the headcount of all employees on 30^th September 2020, AND;
• total wages paid in a JobKeeper period is higher than the total wages paid in an equivalent period immediately on or before 6^th October 2020 (by reference to number of pay cycles).

Criteria gets more convoluted for the last four periods (leading into 2022).

Where to from here?

If you believe you have hired new eligible employees in the first or second JobMaker period (per table above) and at least meet the headcount criteria for employers, please get in touch with us. We will then go through in detail other criteria and complete the process of registration and claim. Timeframes are;

While the rules provide extended timeframes for each JobMaker period claim, it is recommended that you act early, if you think you are eligible, as the groundwork and paperwork will take time to establish.