The extensions apply to December monthly declarations, as well as the wage conditions that employers must meet for JobKeeper fortnights 20, 21 and 22.
December monthly declarations will now be due by January 28, instead of the 14th of the month. This will cover JobKeeper fortnights 18, 19 and 20, including payments made to staff between November 23, 2020, and January 3, 2021.
The wage condition for JobKeeper fortnight 20, which covers the period from December 21, 2020 to January 3, 2020, has been extended to Monday, January 4, to give employers additional time to pay the appropriate JobKeeper amounts.
The ATO will also give employers the whole of January to meet the wage condition for eligible employees for JobKeeper fortnights 21 and 22, which cover the period from Monday, January 4 to Sunday, January 31.
The tax office confirmed this extension is to make sure businesses have been able to pay all eligible employees before submitting their February monthly declarations.
The extensions come as employers start preparing for the second part of JobKeeper 2.0, which commences on Monday, January 4, and will run until Sunday, March 28.
Under this phase, payments will drop to $1,000 for ‘tier 1’ eligible employees or business participants, and $650 for those on ‘tier 2’.
To access JobKeeper payments under this phase, businesses will need to complete a new decline in turnover test to show a decline in actual GST turnover in the December 2020 quarter, against a comparable period.
Existing JobKeeper recipients and businesses enrolling in JobKeeper for the first time will need to complete this test by the end of January 2021.
About 500,000 businesses are continuing to receive JobKeeper payments, with around 450,000 entities coming off the program in October, according to figures released by Treasurer Josh Frydenberg on Monday.
More information about key JobKeeper dates is available on the ATO website here.
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