The ATO have extended the time to enrol for the initial JobKeeper periods, from 30 April 2020 until 31 May 2020.
If you enrol by 31 May you will still be able to claim for the fortnights in April and May, provided you meet all the eligibility requirements for each of those fortnights. This includes having paid your employees by the appropriate date for each fortnight.
For the first two fortnights (30 March – 12 April, 13 April – 26 April), the ATO will accept the minimum $1,500 payment for each fortnight has been paid by you even if it has been paid late, provided it is paid by 8 May 2020. But if you are reporting through STP software, generally the payment date in the software still has to be allocated as 26 April or earlier to be correctly lodged to the ATO. If your payment date is set in your payroll software as 1 May for example – the ATO will not be able to recognise that this is a “catch-up” payment for the first two fortnights.
If you do not pay your staff by this date, you will not be able to claim JobKeeper for the first two fortnights.
You can enrol and claim for JobKeeper earlier if you choose. For example, you can enrol by the end of April to claim JobKeeper payments for the two fortnights in April.
