On Friday afternoon, the Government released amendments to the JobKeeper rules.  These amendments clarify and confirm some aspects of the announcements made on Friday 7 August.

Change in employment date

The amendments confirm that employers who are currently eligible for the JobKeeper scheme, need to consider the eligible of employees who were employed as at 1 July 2020.  There are a number of reasons employees may now be eligible including:

• Casuals who didn’t satisfy the definition of “long term casual” as at 1 March 2020
• Having reached the appropriate age by 1 July 2020
• May now hold the appropriate visa as at 1 July 2020

New permanent employees, employed after 1 March 2020 may also now be eligible.

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The JobKeeper Payment has been in the news again with further tweaks being announced late last week.  It’s important that businesses understand these proposed changes and the impact they may have on your business in the 2020/21 financial year.

In particular:

• The amendments to the eligibility tests for the JobKeeper extension; and
• The amendment to the eligible employee date – now 1 July 2020

There are a number of things you should be considering now.

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Yesterday the Government announced their plan for the winding back of the JobKeeper program.  The impact of the program finishing abruptly on the 27^th September has been a talking point in business circles for quite some time now, especially with the rise of COVID-19 infections in the eastern states.  The changes announced will hopefully assist businesses to prepare for the end of the program and plan their future with some certainty.

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As we approach the end of the financial year it’s a good time to start thinking about what you could do to minimise your tax liability.

We have prepared a summary of our tax planning tips for the 2020 financial year. Some of the items covered need to be actioned ahead of 30 June. Other items that are not necessary to complete ahead of 30 June, but are worth considering over the next couple of months.

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The JobKeeper program has now been in operation for almost two months and whilst there has been a lot of media around the program and how long it will remain in place, the Government has stated that it will not be extended past the current end date of 27 September 2020. There will be a review undertaken at the end of June and we expect that we may see some changes once the review is completed.

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