JobKeeper reimbursement to hit 728,000 businesses
Micro employers are leading the way with JobKeeper enrolments as the first ATO reimbursement payments begin to land in employers’ bank accounts.
The latest figures from the Treasury show that 728,640 organisations have now enrolled for the JobKeeper scheme, covering around 4.7 million employees.
A breakdown of those figures revealed that 40 per cent of all enrolments were made out of individual or sole traders, followed closely by companies at 39 per cent, trusts at 15 per cent and partnerships at 6 per cent.
Businesses with less than $2 million in turnover accounted for the bulk of all enrolments at 87 per cent, with SMEs with a turnover of less than $250 million next in line at 8 per cent.
Professional services firms and their scientific and technical counterparts were the largest industry group to register for JobKeeper, accounting for 14.7 per cent of total enrolments.
The construction industry group was next up, making up 14 per cent of all enrolments.
The latest figures are still less than the 900,000 businesses that had initially expressed interest in the scheme, and have fallen short of the government’s prediction that it would cover 6 million employees.
Eligibility has been the overwhelming concern for businesses that have yet to enrol, according to the Australia Bureau of Statistics, but the ATO’s latest ruling may help businesses better understand their eligibility position.
The ATO has confirmed that payments have begun reaching bank accounts from last night and as of this morning, with the vast majority of payments to be made within days of the ATO receiving a completed application.
Employers who are claiming for the first two JobKeeper fortnights will need to ensure they provide an employee nomination notice to each employee by 8 May, in line with the latest legislative amendments which clarify the “one in, all in” feature.
Businesses will then need to identify and maintain their eligible employees, a step that will be dependent on the employer’s STP-enabled payroll software and the number of employees they have.
Source: AccountantsDaily