If you are NOT eligible or are NOT enrolling for the JobKeeper Extension (phase 2) then you do not need to do anything and can continue processing payroll without following the instructions below. |
The Job Keeper Extension changes the original scheme by:
To continue to receive job keeper payments for employees (if your company is eligible), and for the appropriate Top up Payment Rates to be used during payroll processing you MUST set the new Employee Tier Field.
If you are eligible to continue claiming the JobKeeper Extension, please review and follow these steps in order to identify the correct Tier for your employees and then update their employee record (either manually if you don't have many employees or using the Mass Update we have created to assist with bulk updates).
These instructions detail the steps required in Infinet Cloud Payroll for the JobKeeper Extensions (phase 2). Please ensure that you are also familiar with the ATO's information and guidelines, we recommend you start here: JobKeeper extension - what you need to do as a business. |
JobKeeper Extension fortnights
The Job Keeper extension covers the following fortnights:
Fortnight # | QTR | Period relating to each JobKeeper Fortnight | Employees are paid on or before |
---|---|---|---|
14 | Q3 | 28th September 2020 – 11th October 2020 | 11th October 2020 |
15 | Q3 | 12th October – 25th October 2020 | 25th October 2020 |
16 | Q3 | 26th October – 8th November 2020 | 8th November 2020 |
17 | Q3 | 9th November – 22nd November 2020 | 22nd November 2020 |
18 | Q3 | 23rd November – 6th December 2020 | 6th December 2020 |
19 | Q3 | 7th December – 20th December 2020 | 20th December 2020 |
20 | Q3 | 21st December 2021 – 3rd January 2021 | 3rd January 2021 |
21 | Q4 | 4th January 2021 - 17th January 2021 | 17th January 2021 |
22 | Q4 | 18th January 2021 - 31st January 2021 | 31st January 2021 |
23 | Q4 | 1st February 2021 - 14th February 2021 | 14th February 2021 |
24 | Q4 | 15th February 2021 - 28th February 2021 | 28th February 2021 |
25 | Q4 | 1st March 2021 - 14th March 2021 | 14th March 2021 |
26 | Q4 | 14th March 2021 - 28th March 2021 | 28th March 2021 |
29th March Scheme Ends |
The payment rate is dependent on the extension Quarter, and the employees Tier.
Type | Period | Fortnights | Tier 1 rate | Tier 2 rate |
Job Keeper | start of scheme - 27th September 2020 | 1-13 | Single Rate of $1,500 | |
Job Keeper Extension Q3 | 28 September 2020 – 3 January 2021 | 14-20 | $1,200 | $750 |
Job Keeper Extension Q4 | 4 January 2021 – 28 March 2021 | 21-26 | $1,000 | $650 |
The next sections will explain how a Tier 1 / Tier 2 is determined and the steps that need to be taken to update the employee records.
Run the search PR- AU JobKeeper Extension Employee Tier Lookup from the JobKeeper (AU) menu. This search shows you the hours employees have worked in Feb 2020 and June 2020 and will assist you to determine their Tier Status as below.
Tier 1 rate: | Tier 2 rate: |
---|---|
This rate applies to:
| This rate applies to:
|
If you have employees that are not meant to be there then you need to ensure they are not updated in Step 2. Or, you can update the employee first...maybe they need a termination date or should be inactive?If you don't see employees in this search that you expect to nominate then you may need to update them as below. Please note, that this search should serve as a guide only as it displays the full hours worked in each period. You should verify the hours displayed for each employee.
If someone is not on the list and you want to nominate them, then you can either review the employee record to see what is different from the others and update accordingly or you can manually set the field in Step 2 on the tax info tab.
It is entirely your responsibility to ensure the criteria you use is correct for your organisation. You may have custom employment statuses or variations such as contractors who are employees, you will need to update the criteria accordingly to ensure your nominated employees are updated. Contact support with full details if you need assistance with this. |
You may need to update any employees you have nominated so they can be processed in payroll. This step only applies to employees who are no longer processed in payroll. E.g. You may have employees who are inactive or terminated but are eligible for this measure and you have chosen to re-hire them.
Now we need to update all nominated employees by using a mass update to set either Tier 1 or Tier 2. on the tax info tab of the employee record. This tells the system you intend to claim the JobKeeper payment subsidy for this employee and allows us to automate the STP reporting and top-up payment. This is the most important step in identifying who you are claiming the subsidy for. We have created a new field on the tax info tab of the employee record. You can set this manually for nominated employees if you don't have that many or you can run a mass update as below.
NB: It is entirely your responsibility to ensure the criteria you use is correct for your organisation. You may have custom employment statuses or variations such as contractors who are employees, you will need to update the criteria accordingly to ensure your nominated employees are updated. Contact support with full details if you need assistance with this. |
Process payroll as normal with the following understandings:
JobKeeper 2.0 Release We will be updating all Customers commencing Friday 25th of September 2020 to version 20.3.02 For those customers that are eligible for Phase 2 this release will include reports to help you identify your eligible employees and also a new field on your employee records to set the applicable Tier 1 or Tier 2 level required for the new JobKeeper identification and reporting. There will also be mass updates available for those customers who have large volumes of employees that they need to update. NB. there is no requirement to send Start Fortnights again for those employees you are continuing to claim for. For those Customers that are no longer eligible to claim JobKeeper after Fortnight 13, the good news is that you DO NOT NEED TO SEND FINISH FORTNIGHTS to notify the ATO that you are no longer claiming and there is no action required within Infinet Cloud to stop the JobKeeper Topup automation. Provided there has not been any Tier 1 or Tier 2 field set then this will all cease automatically after the last pay dates of Fortnight 13. This page will be updated again with further instructions for eligible customers after the release so please check back here on Monday 28th September 2020.
Last week the ATO released the new rules for employers. CLICK HERE Getting ready for JobKeeper 2.0 Assuming you meet the eligibility criteria, there will now be two JobKeeper payment rates. Your company accountant will normally be responsible for determining if you are eligible for JobKeeper 2.0
Employers will need to do the following:
If you are eligible for JobKeeper 2.0, you will be automatically transferred to the new rules as soon as you report employee tiers to the ATO via STP
If you are not eligible for JobKeeper 2.0, stop paying employees JobKeeper payments from 27 September
If you were not eligible for Jobkeeper 1.0 but are now eligible for Jobkeeper 2.0 you will have to:
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ATO have provided additional information on various aspects of the reporting requirements, and the development team are now hard at work to deliver the changes ready for fortnight 14 (the start of phase 2). |
ATO have finally provided the JobKeeper Extension Fact sheet. Our developers have been reviewing the changes and new STP reporting requirements; and will be validating some of the use cases with the ATO Friday afternoon. Once confirmed work will begin on implementing the new reporting requirements. |
We are still waiting on the ATO Specification to be released to developers so that we can plan any required development and update our customers on required processes. We will let you know as soon as we do! Latest ATO information is on these links which they continuously update: https://www.ato.gov.au/General/JobKeeper-Payment/ https://www.ato.gov.au/General/JobKeeper-Payment/JobKeeper-extension-announcement/ |
Please see this link for the latest ATO information in relation to the JobKeeper Extension & Eligibility https://www.ato.gov.au/General/JobKeeper-Payment/In-detail/Extension-of-the-JobKeeper-Payment/ |
On 21 July 2020, the Australian Government announced their intention to extend the JobKeeper scheme until 28 March 2021. The current scheme will remain in place until 27 September 2020, i.e. FN13. Whilst officially called the “JobKeeper extension” it was almost immediately labelled “JobKeeper 2.0”. What’s new in JobKeeper 2.0? Businesses that are currently eligible for the JobKeeper scheme will need to requalify to continue receiving JobKeeper from 28 September 2020 and again in early January 2021. Obviously, if the employer is no longer eligible neither are their employees. The eligibility criteria for employees remains the same, however there are now two tiers of payment determined by the average hours worked per week in February 2020. Employees who worked less than 20 hours a week on average in the four weekly pay periods ending before 1 March 2020 will receive the lower payment rate. The rates are:
Whilst not the domain of Payroll, it’s worth outlining the primary eligibility criteria for business. In order to be eligible for the JobKeeper Payment after 27 September 2020, businesses and not-for-profits will have to meet a further decline in turnover test for each of the two periods extension, as well as meeting the existing eligibility requirements for the JobKeeper Payment.
What has remained the same?
CLICK HERE for more details of the government’s extension to JobKeeper. |