JobKeeper Payment Enrolment Extension & Latest Announcements

The ATO has now extended the time given to enrol for the initial JobKeeper periods, from the original date of 30 April 2020, until 31 May 2020 .

If eligible businesses enrol by 31 May 2020, they will still be able to claim for the four fortnights in April and May, provided the business meets all of the eligibility requirements for each of those fortnights. This includes having paid eligible employees by the appropriate date for each fortnight.

For the first two fortnights (30 March – 12 April, 13 April – 26 April), the ATO will accept that eligible businesses will now have until 8 May 2020 to pay the minimum payment of $3,000 gross wages.

However, eligible businesses can enrol and claim for JobKeeper earlier if they choose.

Latest Announcements and More to Come

The Government has identified a number of special circumstances where the JobKeeper Payment rules currently may not provide definitive guidance, and they announced that further guidance will be released on the following topics (hopefully shortly), including:

Service entity eligibility testing to be expanded: A further "alternate decline in turnover test" will be released to assess whether special purpose service entities are eligible, as they currently may not meet the "basic decline in turnover test". These service entities generally provide employee labour to other members of a corporate group. This further test has not yet been drafted; however the initial Treasurer's announcement refers to assessment of the "combined GST turnovers of the related entities using the services of the employer entity".
Charities and the treatment of government revenue : This further guidance is expected to allow charities (other than schools and universities) to elect to either include or exclude government revenue from the JobKeeper turnover test.
Religious practitioners: Proposed changes may now deem religious practitioners (with the exception of those that are students only) to be "eligible employees" of the religious organisations to which they are affiliated.
'One in, all in' principle : This concept has been reaffirmed and will likely be included in the proposed clarifications. Simply, employers are not allowed to pick and choose who they nominate as eligible employees for JobKeeper purposes.
Full time students aged 16 and 17 years old: The JobKeeper eligible employee criteria should now exclude full time students aged 16 or 17 (as at 1 March 2020) who are not financially independent. The rule should be applied prospectively to ensure businesses are not out of pocket for wages already paid to such employees in the first two JobKeeper fortnights.
Universities: I twill be clarified that the core Federal Government financial assistance provided to universities should be included in the JobKeeper turnover tests.

Reminder of Previously Released JobKeeper Topics

Since 31 March 2020, we have released numerous Tax Alerts in relation to the regulations and guidance of the JobKeeper Payment scheme, and they can be found shortcuts below:

Please do not hesitate to contact your Lowe Lippmann Relationship Partner if you wish to discuss any of these matters further.

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Tax Alert - Transfer Balance Cap indexation & Superannuation changes

February 5, 2026

Transfer Balance Cap indexation & Superannuation changes Following the recent release of the December 2025 quarterly CPI figures by the Australian Bureau of Statistics’, the general transfer balance cap ( TBC ) will increase from $2 million to $2.1 million from 1 July 2026. This is applicable for superannuation fund members considering starting their first retirement phase income stream in 2026–27. This could provide tax effective retirement pension and non-concessional contribution opportunities for some members. The Australian Taxation Office needs to formally confirm this increase.

Practice Update – January & February 2026

February 2, 2026

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Tax Alert - Preparing your business for Payday Super changes starting 1 July 2026

January 21, 2026

Preparing your business for Payday Super changes starting 1 July 2026 From 1 July 2026, employers will have to pay their employees’ compulsory Superannuation Guarantee ( SG ) contributions at the same time as they pay their salary and wages (ie. ordinary time earnings, OTE ). This is a change in the frequency of the payment rather than its calculation. With less than six months remaining, we believe it is very important to start preparing your business for these changes. We will outline some actionable steps that can be taken now to help manage the process to be compliant with the new changes leading up to 1 July 2026. These changes will apply to all Employers, whether they have pay cycles weekly, fortnightly, monthly or irregularly. SG contributions must generally arrive in an employee’s chosen super fund within 7 business days of each payday . Please note that in November 2025 we released a Tax Alert after the payday super rules received Royal Assent and became law summarising the changes employers need to be aware of - to read click here .