Government Coronavirus Stimulus – What It Means For You

COVID-19 Stimulus Package in a nutshell

Federal Government

12^th March 2020 – $17.6B

Low income Australians on Centrelink payments are eligible for a $750 payment from 31^st March 2020 in the hope that much of this money will go directly back into the economy.

Employer Cashflow Subsidies to help keep employees on the payroll.

50% of any wages tax withheld, refunded up to $25,000, and a minimum payment of $2,000 even if no PAYG is withheld from employees.
$150,000 instant asset write off (tax deduction) for business equipment purchases before 30th June 2020.
50% wage subsidies for around 117,000 Australian apprentices and trainees, up to maximum of $21,000.

20^th March 2020 – $66B

Accelerated income support for employees and sole traders that have lost their job or had a 20%+ downturn in sales.
Newstart payment has been renamed to JobSeeker payment, with extra $550 coronavirus supplement payment on top of the Jobseeker payment.
Temporary Early Release for Superannuation of $10,000, and a further $10,000 from 1^st July 2020, to eligible government payment recipients.

Employer Subsidies

Employer Subsidies increase from $2,000 to $10,000 as a minimum and $25,000 to $50,000 as a maximum and a further 100%, spread between June & September 2020 BAS returns.
Business Loans up to $250,000, managed by your bank, underwritten 50% by the federal government for a 3 year term with reduced interest and 6 months deferred repayments.

Qld Government

low interest loans up to $250,000 or 50% of PAYG tax withholding for 2019 financial year, for a 10 year term, with no interest or repayments in the first year.

30^th March 2020 – $130B

Fortnightly $1500 JobKeeper Payment for businesses where revenue has dropped 30% or more.
Rental Tenant Protection introduced.

How to determine a fall in turnover

You only need to satisfy this requirement once – you do not need to retest turnover each month.

At the time you enrol in the JobKeeper payment scheme, you need to confirm that your business in a relevant period has had, or is likely to have, a:

30% fall in turnover (for an aggregated turnover of $1 billion or less)
50% fall in turnover (for an aggregated turnover of more than $1 billion), or
15% fall in turnover (for ACNC-registered charities other than universities and schools).
How to calculate a fall in turnover for the first fortnight starting 30 March 2020

To work out your fall in turnover, you can compare either:

GST turnover for March 2020 with GST turnover for March 2019
projected GST turnover for April 2020 with GST turnover for April 2019
projected GST turnover for the quarter starting April 2020 with GST turnover for the quarter starting April 2019.