Guidance on JobKeeper reporting via STP

The ATO has issued guidance to help employers reporting eligible employees and JobKeeper top-up payments through Single Touch Payroll (‘STP’). 

For each eligible employee, employers must notify the ATO:

• when an eligible employee started being paid JobKeeper payments;
• top-up payments to employees earning less than $1500 per fortnight; and
• when an employee is no longer eligible and JobKeeper payments need to be stopped.

The ATO says this process will be managed through the 'STP Pay Event' by entering the relevant JobKeeper description (as outlined below) in the 'Other Allowances' field. 

To report the JobKeeper start fortnight for an eligible employee:

Use the description ‘JOBKEEPER-START-FNXX’ where ‘XX’ represents the JobKeeper fortnight from which the first payment is made. 

Report the amount as ‘zero’, or as $0.01 if the software does not support reporting ‘zero’.

To report a top-up payment for an eligible employee ordinarily earning less than $1,500 per fortnight:

Use the description 'JOBKEEPER-TOPUP' for the top-up amount.

To report the first full JobKeeper fortnight an employee became ineligible:

Use the description ‘JOBKEEPER-FINISH-FNXX’ where ‘XX’ represents the JobKeeper fortnight in which the last payment is made.

For example, an employee resigns, and their last payment was on 13 May 2020.  As this falls in JobKeeper fortnight 04 (being 11/05/2020 – 24/05/2020), the description 'JOBKEEPER-FINISH-FN04' should be used to notify the ATO that the employee is not eligible for JobKeeper from FN05.

Making corrections to (previously reported) JobKeeper start and finish information

The ATO’s guidance identifies several situations where errors made in reporting the JobKeeper start or finish information may need correction and sets out options for doing so. 

In particular, guidance is provided for making corrections where:

• the wrong employee was reported as starting or finishing;
• a later start or finish fortnight is incorrectly reported;
• an earlier start or finish fortnight is incorrectly reported; or
• a future-dated start or finish fortnight is reported. 

The ATO is urging employers to exercise extreme caution to ensure the accuracy of originally reported information as multiple corrections cannot be made through the STP Pay Event, 'Other Allowances' field.

The Money Edge | Bundaberg