JobKeeper 3.0 Adjustments to Decline in Turnover Test and Employee Eligibility
On 21 July 2020, the government announced that the JobKeeper Payments will be extended until 28 March 2021. In addition, on 7 August 2020, the government announced adjustments to JobKeeper 2.0 to expand the eligibility criteria for the Decline in Turnover Test and Employee Eligibility. So now we refer to it as JobKeeper 3.0
- Adjustments to employee eligibility – From 3 August 2020, the relevant date of employment will move from 1 March 2020 to 1 July 2020. Casual employees will still be required to have been employed on a regular and systematic basis for a minimum of 12 months.
- Adjustments to the ‘Decline in Turnover Test’ – To qualify for the JKP in the extension periods, businesses will now only have to demonstrate that their actual GST turnovers have significantly decreased in the previous quarter under JobKeeper 3.0. The applicable rate of decline in turnover required to qualify for JobKeeper 3.0 is determined in accordance with the existing rules (e.g. 30% for entities with an aggregated turnover of $1 billion or less). Specifically, to be eligible for the JKP Extension Period 1 (e.g. from 28 September 2020 to 3 January 2021), businesses only need to demonstrate a significant decline in turnover in the September 2020 quarter.
- Crucially, the dual payment rate system originally proposed in JobKeeper 2.0 will remain, with the full rate of payment decreasing from $1,500 to $1,200 per fortnight from 28 September 2020 and then to $1,000 per fortnight from 4 January 2021. The proposed reduced rates (being $750 from 28 September 2020 and $650 from 4 January 2021) will also remain for employees and business participants who worked fewer than 20 hours per week in the relevant period.