Explaining the Monthly JobKeeper Administration

The administration behind the JobKeeper scheme is somewhat involved. Employers, bookkeepers and accountants across the country have been busy since its inception to ensure payments for those eligible are setup correctly. Here is some more detail as to what is involved for those who’s bookkeeper has been assisting them in their business:

Submission of the Claim Form

A monthly claim form is submitted on a monthly basis, on the ATO website. The form submitted needs to adhere to the below requirements
Its an approved form, in Law, and therefore your Bookkeeper (if lodging on your behalf) must be authorised to lodge and have a Client Declaration
The Claim form – an employer will not be paid unless they lodge this monthly form
There are due dates that the forms must be lodged by in order for them to be processed

GST Turnover

There are specific requirements around accuracy in determining the GST turnover for a business. The ATO have now advised that the GST Turnover fields on the monthly report should be:

“Entities should make a genuine effort to calculate and report current and projected GST turnover. If you later identify errors in the calculation, you will not be required to re-report to the ATO.
“If the error is related to employee details or payments made, and will impact the amount of the JobKeeper payment(s), the employer/agent will need to call the call centre. There is no online amendment capability.”

Hence the calculations need to be carried out using data that is as accurate as possible.

They have also advised that the GST turnover is to be calculated on the SAME basis as the decline in turnover test was calculated (there are different tests available depnding on the business’s situation)

They do note that if the projected decline that was used is unreasonable then they make enquiries.

Payroll Processing for JobKeeper with STP

Where a software program is used the STP reporting function will communicate the details to the ATO for JobKeeper.
The ATO system provides a different experience depending on whether the employer has used payroll software with STP reporting and again a slightly different experience if you are using JobKeeper Codes in that software.

If your bookkeeper is administering this for you they can confirm the process used if you’re looking for further information about this.

Where JobKeeper Codes are used:

The ATO are informed of the employers “eligible employees” through the use of the JobKeeper-Start codes.

Employers will NOT (currently) see the employee list nor be able to maintain it on the ATO website. The ATO will prefill the number of employees from the STP reports.

Payroll Software with STP and NOT using JobKeeper Codes

The ATO are informed of the employers’ employees through STP reporting.

The Employer will be provided with the employee list and will be able to indicate JK status on the ATO website. They will also be able to add any missing employees.

The ATO will not prefill the number of employees in April, but will do so in May and following.

Payroll without STP software.

The ATO do not have the eligible employees and therefore the employee must add them.
For less than 40 – this can be performed on screen
For more than 40 they are required to complete a CSV file and submit it to the ATO.

The Employer will be provided with the ability to add employees and indicate the JK status.

The ATO will not prefill the number of employees in April, but will do so in May and following.