AFA News 12 August 2020. On Friday, the Federal Government announced further changes to the JobKeeper Program. These changes, which follow the previous 21 July 2020 announcement with respect to how the JobKeeper program will evolve post 27 September 2020, included the following:

• Adding employees who joined a firm prior to 1 July 2020 (as opposed to 1 March 2020) as eligible for the scheme. Payments for these newer employees will be effective from 3 August 2020. Presumably this will only apply to permanent full time and part time employees and not casual employees, who are subject to a 12 month employment eligibility requirement.
• Relaxing the ongoing employer eligibility requirements. Those firms who will be eligible in the December 2020 and March 2021 quarters will only need to prove that they experienced the nominated turnover reduction in the previous quarter. For eligibility for the December 2020 quarter, a firm with turnover of less than $1B, will need to demonstrate a 30% reduction in turnover between the September 2020 quarter and the September 2019 quarter, rather than both the June 2020 and September 2020 quarters.

Access a Detailed Update on the Stimulus Programs

An update on the Government’s economic stimulus packages was provided in our 11 August 2020 webinar by Adam Crabbe from Zurich.  If you missed out on registering for this webinar, you can access a recording through the AFA Webinars Webpage, and when you complete the quiz, you will receive a CPD certificate.  As these economic support programs continue to evolve, it will be critical to stay up-to-date, so that you can advise your clients