As we approach 2.5 weeks into lockdown the NSW and Commonwealth governments have recently made a joint announcement on business support packages. Here is a summary of what’s on offer, when and how to access.

With the Commonwealth government announcing changes to their support payments to individuals, we thought it would be a good idea to give an update on what’s on offer, eligibility and how to access it. The extended lockdown in NSW has resulted in a rethinking of the eligibility and amounts for the Covid-19 Disaster Payment, while the Pandemic Leave Disaster Payment remains unchanged. Here’s a summary of the key points for both types of payments.

Adrienne owns a small architecture firm and spent the 2018-19 Christmas break reading Mike Michalowicz’s book, Profit First. She was so excited by the read and wanted to implement it in her business straight away. I was a little sceptical as being an accountant I know that being in business is about cashflow first. Curious, I decided to have a read. I wasn’t long into the book before I realised it’s about a methodology to manage cashflow. I settled in and enjoyed the read.

On 21 July 2020 long awaited revisions to JobKeeper were finally announced, however the worsening of the economic situation in Victoria as Stage 4 coronavirus restrictions took place saw the revisions revised yet again on 7 August (and yet again later updated on 10 August – ughhh!!). Here is a quick summary of the main points for businesses with aggregated turnover of less than $1 billion:

JobKeeper is a wage subsidy being a fixed payment of $1,500 per fortnight for fortnights starting 30 March 2020 and ending 27 September 2020. The subsidy is to be paid to an eligible business which is then passed on to an eligible employee. The JobKeeper scheme recognises that certain participants in a business, such as a sole trader, a partner in a partnership, a beneficiary of a trust and a director or shareholder in a company are also affected by the economic downturn caused by the Coronavirus. Accordingly, in order to provide a benefit to such business participants, the Jobkeeper scheme has been extended.

What is JobKeeper? JobKeeper is a wage subsidy being a fixed payment of $1,500 per fortnight for fortnights starting 30 March 2020 and ending 27 September 2020. The subsidy to be paid to an eligible business which is then passed on to an eligible employee. The payment must have already been passed on to the employee in full for the business to be eligible for the payment. Once in the scheme an employer cannot elect for some eligible employees to be covered by the scheme and not others.

With so many announcements having been made in relation to Covid-19 and the assistance available we thought we would put together this handy resource for you to access just what need. This is a rapidly changing situation and this list is current as at 14 April 2020.