How to Complete the Monthly Jobkeeper Report

First we registered our interest

Then we enrolled

NOW - we report!

A sneak peak came out Sunday 3rd of May, prior to ATO systems going under maintenance, but we got a good look (and screen shots) on what the reporting looks like.

Before you head over to the Business Portal and get a'reportin - please make sure have have already done the below.

1. Determine your business eligibility & what employees are eligible - see how to do that here
2. Complete the employee nomination notices - found here
3. Complete the business participant nomination notices -found here
4. Enrolled into the Jobkeeper Payments scheme - see how to do that here

If you are still not confident, or want us to run through it with you let us know here & one of our team will be in touch (note - we are charging discounted fees to help you understand your personal situation).

The form we will run through asks A LOT of the SAME questions that you answered when you "enrolled". My guess - they want to ensure you didn't fill it out incorrectly. So make sure you are 100% certain of the answers when you complete it this time :)

Step 1

Log into the Business Portal (or if you are a sole trader - My Gov).

If you are yet to set up your MyGovID check out Shane's blog on that here

Step 2

Click on the “view” button in the banner that will appear at the top “COVID-19”

Step 3

You will now see the Jobkeeper page. Click Identify to get started!

Step 4

The first few question asks you to confirm what month you are applying for Jobkeeper wage subsidy (hint - If you are eligible from day 1 - it's April).

Step 5

Next - it's on to confirming if you had an eligible business participant (i.e. partner in a partnership, adult beneficiary of a trust or shareholder/director of a company).

Note - you need to confirm the Tax File Number & Date of Birth -ensuing there are no duplicate payments.

Step 6

Now it's onto those amazing employees of yours. The ATO will have information for all employees you lodged a payroll using Single Touch Payroll (STP) for during the month of April (another hint: you should be using software that reports STP info to the ATO by now).

Against every name you need to identify if

• They will never be eligible (i.e. underage, not 12 month casual, getting jobkeeper elsewhere etc)
• You are not claiming for them yet (maybe your business is not yet eligible, thus you cannot claim until a future month)

The next 3 questions are about the timing of the Jobkeeper.

• FN 1 stands for the fortnight starting 30 March
• FN 2 stands for the fortnight starting 13 April
• All following FN then follow a similar suit

Ensure you select the appropriate fortnights, as this is what you payments are connected to.

If you selected a future month when you enrolled, the Fortnights to select will be future dated. i.. FN3 & FN 4

Hint - if you are eligible from day 1 - select Claim on FN 1 and 2

You have the option to add additional employees if, for some reason, they were not reported by your STP software as at 1 March.

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Step 7

Now is the all important, yet somewhat irrelevant GST turnover question.

Here is my thoughts on this before we start.

The ATO have been very clear that once you qualify for Jobkeeper, you are in for the entirety of the period (until the end of September). That means if your turnover increases in future months, for whatever reason, you are still eligible to receive the payments.

If you intentionally tank a month to get Jobkeeper (much like the 76ers Trust the Process period) that is not in the spirit of the rules & if you are found out - the consequences won't be pretty (Unlike the 76ers who have since drafted Joel Embiid & Ben Simmons!).

Before you attempt to complete this section you MUST ensure that you have

• Completed all month end invoicing
• Reconciled your bank accounts up to date
• Are sure that there is no other missing income amounts lying around

What is your GST turnover for the prior month?
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Your GST turnover is your total business income (not your profit), minus any:

• GST included in sales to your customers
• sales that aren't for payment and aren't taxable
• sales not connected with an enterprise you run
• input-taxed sales you make
• sales not connected with Australia.

How do you project your next months GST turnover - BLOODY GREAT QUESTION

Here are a few options that I've thought about

1. Assess work you have in progress & the timing of the invoicing & payment for services
2. Purchase a crystal ball - see what it says
3. Look at a prior period & apply a % reduction based on your expected drop in trade
4. Magic 8 ball - give it a shake!
5. Set targets that you aim to achieve & likelyhood of achieving them - use the amount that you are most confident your will achieve based on your current understanding of the market for your good &/or services
6. Collect various pieces of clothing, hair & other gross artifacts, throw them in the fire & see if a number comes out

Yes - a few of the above are farcical, and should not be followed. But you can see how difficult it can be at a time like this to get it right.

Important to note - make sure you are using the same methodology that you used to determine your initial eligibility (Cash or Accruals) when reporting actual & projected turnover.

Oh wait - it's a forecast, so it will never be right - so rest easy & don't spend allllllllll night working it out for this report.

DO spend all night working out how you can make your business kick arse when this all blows over - that's time very well spent!

We are told that this questions is purely for analytical purposes only, and not to validate if you are in fact eligible for Jobkeeper payments.

FAQ's to come - there are a lot here

Step 8

Confirm your banking details are correct, tick the declaration box & click submit

Step 9

Make sure you take a copy of the confirmation of lodgement report - there can be gremlins out there that cause havoc with tech at times.

Hit that Print-friendly version button and save the PDF for future use.

Step 10

Sit tight and await payment

If you want to know when that payment might be arriving - see Step 7 for an idea of what our thoughts on the matter might be.

We have however heard that they will hit by the 14th...

Sing out if you need a hand. Team Illumin8 are doing a bunch of stuff to get info into the hands of those that need it including:

• Our dedicated COVID fact sheet page
• Our weekly webinars with various special guests
• All sales from our merch goes directly towards providing free advice to those who need it the most - check the gear out here

If you want Illumin8 to assist with assessing your reporting requirements for Jobkeeper, please let us know here

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