The online systems have been opened, and The Australian Taxation Office has reminded business owners that they have until June 14 to make their monthly declarations, or risk missing out on payments for the May JobKeeper fortnightly payments. The fortnights effected are April 26 to May 10m and May 11 to May 24.
The ATO has been processing most JobKeeper forms within five days, suggesting that the faster declarations are made, the faster the wage reimbursements will be received.
The Morrison Government has outlined that businesses must make declarations for payments in the first 14 days of the month after those payments are claimed for. With that in mind, May JobKeeper payments are tied to declarations made in the first half of June.
But the timing of the declaration window against the JobKeeper fortnights creates some potential cashflow pitfalls if salons aren’t fast enough to process their requests. For example, if a salon declares for May on June 14, they may not receive payments until the end of the second JobKeeper fortnight in June.
This means the business would likely need to pay minimum wage entitlements for these fortnights without having been reimbursed for May wages yet.
This will be the first test of the monthly declaration process for firms that are already receiving payments, following the enrollment period that started on April 20 and will run to 31 May for payments in those months.
Businesses which have not yet enrolled or declared for payments in April or May, covering the first eight weeks of the scheme, will have until the end of next Sunday to do so, or lose the ability to claim for this period altogether.
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