What Illawarra Businesses Need To Know About JobSaver Eligibility And How To Apply
The JobSaver initiative was announced recently, aiming to help businesses impacted by the lockdown maintain employees and provide cashflow support to businesses.
Now, when the NSW Government announced an extension of four weeks to the current lockdown on Wednesday 28 July, they also announced an expansion to the initial JobSaver requirements.
So, what does that mean? And is your business eligible?
This is what you need to know:
How much?
If you’re a sole trader and don’t have any employees, you may be able to get up to $1,000 per week.
If you’re an employing business, you may be eligible for 40% of your weekly payroll, with payments between $1,500 and $100,000 per week. (It was previously up to $10k)
Not for profits are also included in this.
Who is eligible?
Well, this is the million-dollar question, right? So, there’s a few things to consider:
- You must have an active ABN
- Demonstrate your biz was operating in NSW as of 1 June 2021
- Have had a national aggregated turnover between $75,000 and $50 million (inclusive) for the year ended 30 June 2020
- Have experienced a decline in turnover of 30% or more due to the lockdown over a minimum of 2-week period within the Greater Sydney lockdown (which commenced on 26 June compared to the same period in 2019)
- You must maintain your employee headcount on 13 July and while you continue to receive JobSaver payments
There is also a list of highly impacted industries you’ll need to check to see if you’re on it.
If you’re NOT on the highly impacted industries list, you may still be eligible – you’ll just need to jump through a few more hoops, which your accountant, tax agent or registered BAS agent can help you with.
How do you apply?
You can do it online here.
And you’ll need to:
- Declare you meet the eligibility criteria
- Declare your employee headcount as at 13 July 2021
- Declare you will MAINTAIN your employee headcount for the period you receive JobSaver payments.
- Submit an Australian tax return, Notice of Assessment or other documentation demonstrating turnover.
- Provide details of your accountant, registered tax agent or registered BAS agent
- Provide evidence of your weekly payroll
- Lodge other supporting docs as required
So yep, a bit of red tape but hey, totally worth it if you’re eligible. Every bit helps at the moment, right?
And just be aware you may also be subject to an audit. Nothing to worry about if you’ve got nothing to worry about, we say!
How long will it take before money lands?
That’s another how long is a piece of string question, but we say jump online, chat to your accountant and do what you can to get the wheels turning.
It may take a little while, thanks to the high demand associated with the initiative, but the sooner you get the process started, the sooner you’ll receive that cash support if you’re eligible.
And they back pay. JobSaver can be used to cover business costs incurred from 18 July 2021.
What next?
1 :: Chat to your accountant if you’ve got one – they’ll be right across this and probably helping other clients with it too.
2 :: Check out the eligibility requirement here on the Service NSW website. This is where you can apply online too.
3 :: Book a Service NSW Business Concierge call. This is a pretty awesome service these guys have set up. You can call 13 77 88 Monday to Friday 7am to 7pm and you’ll get through to someone who has knowledge of all the different types of business support – financial, regulatory, service or otherwise.
Obvs at the moment is that it’s all about the COVID business support initiatives, so you can imagine their phone lines are pretty busy. BUT you can book a call in online and they’ll give you a buzz on your preferred day and time. Do that online here.
All this sort of uncertainty can be so overwhelming, we hear ya! So don’t forget to reach out if you’re feeling the pressure – you’re not in this alone. Head here for some more COVID resource and support info, including links to mental health support.
We may be treading water for a little longer, but you’ve got this, guys.
Stay safe.
Heads Up :: This information is updated as much as possible, but seeing things are changing soooooo quickly at the mo, we absolutely recommend for guaranteed up-to-date info, you head to the Service NSW website or book a Business Concierge call in with them.