Covid19 relief for Individuals and Businesses
Coronavirus Support Summary for Individuals and Businesses
The Australian Government is providing financial assistance to Australians to support them through the Coronavirus. This assistance includes income support payments, payments to support households and temporary early releases of superannuation. We have summarized these stimulates so that you can check your eligibility
For Individuals – Employees and Sole Trader
Jobkeeper Payment upto $1500 a fortnight (Permanent resident or citizen) from 01 May 2020 payments will be back dated from March 2020
Jobseeker Payment up to $1100 a fortnight (Permanent resident or citizen) From 27 April 2020 Income support and a Coronavirus supplement
Support for
Individuals and Household (Permanent resident or citizens only)
From
31 March 2020 First round of $750 payments to support households
From 13 July 2020 Second round of $750 payments to support households
Early Release of Super (Permanent resident, citizen, non-resident maybe
eligible) From mid-April 2020
Jobkeeper Payment
Condition: Employees in the following
circumstances will have additional obligations
. • Employees that have multiple employers must notify the employer that is
their primary employer. • Employees that are not Australian citizens must
notify their employer of their visa status, to allow their employer to
determine if they are an eligible employee.
• Employees that are currently in
receipt of an income support payment must notify Services Australia of their
new income.
• Employees must be employed before 01 of March 2020 to be eligible for the job
keeper payment
Job Seeker
Over the next six months, the Government is temporarily expanding eligibility to income support payments and establishing a new, time-limited Coronavirus supplement to be paid at a rate of $550 per fortnight.
This will be paid to both existing and new recipients of JobSeeker Payment, Youth Allowance Jobseeker, Parenting Payment, Farm Household Allowance and Special Benefit
Support for Individuals and Household
These payments will provide assistance to lower income Australians, including pensioners, other social security and veteran income support recipients and eligible concession card holders.
SUPPORT PAYMENTS Summary The Government is providing two separate $750 payments to social security, veteran and other income support recipients and eligible concession card holders. Around half of those that benefit are pensioners. These payments will support households to manage the economic impact of the Coronavirus.
• The first payment (announced on 12 March 2020) will be available to people who are eligible payment recipients and concession card holders at any time from 12 March 2020 to 13 April 2020 inclusive.
• The second payment (announced on 22 March 2020) will be available to people who are eligible payment recipients and concession card holders on 10 July 2020. A person can be eligible to receive both the first and second support payment. However, they can only receive one $750 payment in each round of payments, even if they qualify in each round of the payments in multiple ways
The payment will be exempt from taxation and will not count as income for the purposes of Social Security, Farm Household Allowance and veteran payments.
Temporary early release of superannuation
Eligibility To apply for early release you must satisfy any one or more of the following requirements:
• you are unemployed; or
• you are eligible to receive a job seeker payment, youth allowance for jobseekers, parenting payment (which includes the single and partnered payments), special benefit or farm household allowance; or
• on or after 1 January 2020: you were made redundant; or your working hours were reduced by 20 per cent or more; or if you are a sole trader — your business was suspended or there was a reduction in your turnover of 20 per cent or more. People accessing their superannuation will not need to pay tax on amounts released and the money they withdraw will not affect Centrelink or Veterans’ Affairs payments.
For Businesses and Sole Trader
You may
receive one or more than one payment based on your eligibility
Jobkeeper Payment from 1 May 2020 – payment backed from Mar 2020
Tax-free
cash flow boosts of between $20,000 and $100,000 from 28 April 2020
Vary PAYG Tax Instalments from 01 April 2020 or when you lodge next BAS
Instant Asset Write-off up to $150000 from 12 Mar 20200
Jobkeeper Payment
To receive the JobKeeper Payment, employers must:
• Register an
intention to apply on the ATO website and assess that they have or will
experience the required turnover decline.
• Provide information to the ATO on eligible employees. This includes
information on the number of eligible employees engaged as at 1 March 2020 and
those currently employed by the business (including those stood down or
rehired). For most businesses, the ATO will use Single Touch Payroll data to
pre-populate the employee details for the business.
• Ensure that each eligible employee receives at least $1,500 per fortnight
(before tax). For employees that were already receiving this amount from the
employer then their income will not change. For employees that have been
receiving less than this amount, the employer will need to top up the payment
to the employee up to $1,500, before tax. And for those employees earning more
than this amount, the employer is able to provide them with a top-up.
• Notify all eligible employees that they are receiving the JobKeeper Payment.
• Continue to provide information to the
ATO on a monthly basis, including the number of eligible employees employed by
the business.
Cashflow Boost between $20000 to $100000
The government will provide tax-free cash flow boosts of between $20,000 and $100,000 to eligible businesses, delivered through credits in the activity statement system, when eligible businesses lodge their activity statements.
Eligibility
You will be eligible to receive the cash flow boost if you are a small or medium business entity, including not-for-profit organisations, sole traders, partnership, company or trust that:
held an ABN on 12 March 2020 and continues to be active
has an aggregated annual turnover under $50 million (generally based on prior year turnover)
made eligible payments you are required to withhold from (even if the amount you need to withhold is zero).
Vary PAYG Tax Instalments
Allowing businesses to vary Pay As
You Go (PAYG) instalment amounts to zero for the March 2020 quarter. Businesses
that vary their PAYG instalment to zero can also claim a refund for any
instalments made for the September 2019 and December 2019 quarters.
Instant asset write-off for eligible businesses
The Government is increasing the instant asset write-off threshold from $30,000 to $150,000 and expanding access to include businesses with aggregated annual turnover of less than $500 million (up from $50 million) until 30 June 2020
