The Federal Government threw salon owners a lifeline when it announced the creation of the JobKeeper payment three weeks ago. In essence, eligible businesses will receive a fortnightly payment of $1,500 per employee, which must be passed on to their staff members. In an effort to reduce the rate of unemployment, the payment encourages business owners to keep their staff employed throughout the pandemic, even if their business has had to temporarily close, and their staff has been stood down.
The scheme passed legislation last week, and registrations are officially open as of this week. But be aware, the window of time to register is small: applications must be submitted by April 26.
In order to register, you will need information from each of your employees, regarding their personal eligibility for the payment. This includes confirmation that you are their primary employer, as well as their length of service if they are a casual employee (they’ll need to have .worked at your salon for at least 12 months in order to be eligible for the JobKeeper payment).
From a business perspective, in order to receive the payments from he first week of May, employers will beed to do the following:
- have paid their eligible employees a minimum of $1,500 per fortnight, for the period between Match 30 and the end of April. The payments for the first two fortnights need to be made by the end of April.
- Meet eligibility requirements, as outlined on the ATO’s website
- Enrol for the JobKeeper Payment programme online.
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