Eligibility criteria for JobKeeper Payment

In order to receive a payment, both the employer and employee must meet the eligibility criteria

For Employers

Eligible employers are businesses, charities or NPOs, faced with revenue losses that cross turnover-specific thresholds, that employed at least one eligible employee on 1 March 2020 and do not fall in any of the categories of ineligibility.

For Employees

Employees are eligible if they were employed by an eligible employer on 1 March 2020, are currently still employed meet all other eligibility requirements.

How to Process JobKeeper Payments in SapphireOne

There are 5 steps to Process Payroll within SapphireOne for JobKeeper Payments for the first time. You can skip step 1 – 3 for every following JobKeeper Payment.

Create new Allowance record for JobKeeper

Go to: Payroll > Administration > Allowance > Create New

The new Allowance has to have the name “JOBKEEPER-TOPUP”. Make sure the Payment Summary Names are set up between “Allowance A” to “Allowance J” and the Payment Summary / STP Position is set as “Other”.

Create start date for Job Keeper and leave finish date as 00/00/00

Go to: Payroll > Administration > Employee > Select Employee > Details – Controls > Job Keeper 2020.

Add JobKeeper name in Payment Summary

Go to: Utilities > Control > Company > Modify Company > Details – Allowance > add JobKeeper in the appropriate Allowance field.

Only apply the JobKeeper Wage Payment Item to your Employees who earned $1500 or less or who have been stood down

Go to: Payroll > Working Transaction > Select Employee > Add JobKeeper in ‘Working Paysheet’ then click “Recalc” button.

Run Payrun to pay employees

Go to: Payroll > Pay Run > Select Employee > Process

Once the payment is made you can review the payslip. You will notice that this payment has been taxed and Superannuation has been added.

After completion of the payment process, you can submit your STP with the ATO using SapphireOne Single Touch Payroll.

How much to pay

Read more about this on the Sapphireone Blog

Every employer has to pay a minimum of gross $1,500 per fortnight to each eligible employee, withholding income tax as appropriate.

Employers are advised to pay their employees every fortnight under the JobKeeper scheme in order to maintain eligibility. The first fortnight runs from 30 March 2020 until 12 April 2020 and the last fortnight ends on 27 September 2020, respectively.

If an employee earns a wage of less than $1,500, their employer is only allowed to receive reimbursement under the JobKeeper program if they pay an according ‘top up’ in order to reach the value of gross $1,500 per fortnight. If the employer fails to pay this minimum amount to an eligible employee, he or she forfeits their claim under the subsidy scheme for the relevant fortnight.

All JobKeeper payments are considered assessable income of the eligible business. Further, the normal rules for tax deductibility apply in respect of the wages a company pays to its employees and for which they receive subsidies under the JobKeeper scheme.

Responsibility of employers and employees

Employers need to give each eligible employee a JobKeeper Employee Nomination notice, informing them on the intention to participate in the scheme and asking for their approval to be nominated and receive payments under the program. These forms should be kept as records, but do not need to be sent to the ATO.

The notice can be accessed via following link:
https://www.ato.gov.au/Forms/JobKeeper-payment—employee-nomination-notice/

Additionally, the ATO requires companies participating in the JobKeeper scheme to make monthly declarations through the ATO’s business portal about their eligible employees and their turnover via STP and SBR2.

Easily Process Payroll within SapphireOne for JobKeeper Payments