The ATO has announced a new alternate test which businesses may find useful in assisting them meet the reduction in turnover requirements for the JobKeeper extended payments. It applies to those businesses whose turnover has not decreased in the September 2020 period due to an event that occurred in the corresponding September 2019 period that was outside the normal course of business.
The Federal Government has released its annual budget and as expected it contained several measures that are designed to assist the recovery of the economy after the abnormal impact of COVID-19. As always, these are proposed measures and need to be passed by Parliament but most of these measures, especially on the tax side, are proposals previously advocated by the Opposition so it is expected these will be passed.
Now that the initial JobKeeper scheme has finished, the new extended JobKeeper scheme kicks in with its new eligibility rules. This will once again prove to be a nightmare for struggling business owners and busy accountants.
The legislation confirming the alternate tests for JobKeeper 2.0 has been passed and although the ATO web guidance is yet to be released, this legislation confirms that the same alternate tests which applied to the first JobKeeper scheme will be applied for the extensions.
With another week of lockdown behind us, Victorians are hoping there is an end in sight of these level 4 restrictions. For businesses in Victoria and around Australia, the focus has also been on the releases from the Federal and Victorian governments regarding relief measures in place.
The Victorian State Government has announced a further $3 billion grants that will shortly be made available to businesses impacted by COVID-19 as a result of the extended lockdowns. Although details have not yet been released and applications are not yet open, the announcements indicated: