MGAA Jobkeeper Guidance Much Clearer but Not Quite Complete

With a week since our last publication of JobKeeper Guide, we now have much more clarity on how ATO is going to administer JobKeeper Payments. It's critical to be conservative and participate in the scheme only if you are certain. Otherwise payments made to employees might not be reimbursed by ATO later on!


Let's jump to the 5 steps process! (For further confirmation of rules, refer to ATO website);

Step 1. Assess your turnover test. It's quite simple. You need to pass a minimum 30% reduction in your business turnover in any one of the following three periods (to start Jobkeeper from 30th March 2020).


  • Compare actual turnover of March 2019 to March 2020
  • Compare actual turnover of April 2019 to estimated turnover of April 2020
  • Compare actual turnover of April-June 2019 to estimated turnover of April-June 2020.


Step 2. Identify all eligible employees and get them to complete the Employee Election form. Eligible employees have to meet ALL of the following criteria;


  • employed in your business on 1st March 2020
  • permanent full time or part time, or long term casual on systematic and regular basis for over a year
  • be a resident of Australia under Social Security Act i.e. citizens, PR, or holder of long term visa


Step 3. Pay each eligible employee a minimum of $1,500 (gross) per JobKeeper fortnight.


  • For the month of April, pay for FN ending 12.04.2020 and FN ending 26.04.2020 by end of April.
  • For subsequent fortnights starting from 27.04.2020, pay preferably by end of each fortnight.
  • Payment needs to be made first, before a reimbursement is made by ATO.


Step 4. Make a claim, but be patient!


  • Register for JobKeeper claim with ATO by end of April 2020 (can be extended to end of May 2020 if further time is required). All you need for this is an estimate of number of employees you are going to claim JobKeeper payment for.
  • Provide monthly information to ATO starting on and after 4th May 2020;
  • Details of employees for whom a claim of $1500 per FN is to be made. For STP employers this can be done through eligible software, or on ATO portal using their pre-filled employee information. For non STP employers details of employees and payments will need to be provided.
  • Report turnover of last month and expected turnover of current month.


Step 5. Wait for the payments. ATO has said first payments will flow around 14th of May and then monthly from there on.

Click here for your copy of MGAA JobKeeper Guidance Sheet updated 22 April 2020

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