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The Federal Government has extended both the time to enrol for the JobKeeper program and the payment date for the first two fortnights.
Businesses can now enrol in the program until 31 May 2020, extended from an initial cut-off date of 30 April.
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.
Further, for the first two fortnights of the program (30 March to 12 April and 13 April to 26 April) the Government will accept the minimum $1,500 payment for each fortnight has been paid even if it has been paid late, provided it is paid by 8 May.
If you do not pay your staff by this date, you will not be able to claim JobKeeper for the first two fortnights.
Businesses can enrol and claim for JobKeeper earlier if they choose. For example, businesses can enrol by the end of April to claim JobKeeper payments for the two fortnights in April.
The Australian Small Business and Family Enterprise Ombudsman Kate Carnell has welcomed this development, saying it will be welcome relief for struggling business owners.
"Small businesses now have extra time to deal with cash flow pressures as a result of any delays with their financial arrangements," says Carnell.
"It is especially critical now that those small businesses that had chosen not to apply for JobKeeper because they were worried they couldn't pay their staff by April 30, do so now."
Updated at 12:27pm AEST on 28 April 2020.
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