Covid-19 Payroll Item - Single Touch Payroll

Bully_9639185
Bully_9639185 Member Posts: 28
Will there be a specific Payroll Item guidelines created for the JobKeeper Payment?   I assume the ATO will need to track this payment through Single Touch Payroll - if everyone is using a different item description how will this happen?  The requirements for the initial set-up of Single Touch Payroll were very specific, would this not be the case with JobKeeper?

Comments

  • Rav
    Rav Administrator, Reckon Staff Posts: 15,305 Community Manager Community Manager
    edited April 2020
    Hi Bully,
    We're still working the reporting requirements with the ATO at the moment. There is a fair bit of detail in this and we'll have more information coming soon.

    https://community.reckon.com/reckon/topics/jobkeeper-payments-reckon-software


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  • Bully_9639185
    Bully_9639185 Member Posts: 28
    edited April 2020
    Thanks for your prompt response Rav - I understand we have to commence payment of JobKeeper immediately - your updates are appreciated.
  • Dylan Frederick
    Dylan Frederick Member Posts: 4
    edited April 2020

    Hi Rav,

    Any update on this at all? Employees want to get paid soon !
  • Danni Gianni
    Danni Gianni Member Posts: 4
    edited April 2020
    Any updates on how to enter this category in Reckon Hosted Payroll?


  • Dylan Frederick
    Dylan Frederick Member Posts: 4
    edited April 2020

    To get my staff paid, I have:

    Payroll Setup / Pay Items / Earnings:
    Click Add,  created a new Earnings Pay Item:
    Pay item Type: Earnings
    Earnings Type: Variable
    Name: JobKeeper Payment
    Description: (whatever you like)
    Pay Rate Basis: Other
    Expense Account: (same as Ordinary Earnings)

    Payroll Setup / Pay Items / Super:
    Make sure the Super Guarantee Item does not have a checked box next to the new JobKeeper Payment Item. You do not need to pay super on any additional payments above the staff's normal pay.

    All the best. Please reply if there is another / better way to do this.
    Dylan

  • Eric Murphy
    Eric Murphy Member Posts: 214 ✭✭✭
    edited April 2020
    There is a fair bit of jumping the gun going on here.
    The legislation for jobkeeper payments is only going through Parliament today and the payments themselves aren't to start until May. 

    I'd just wait for now until we all have official information rather than formulating methods which might backfire in time pending the results of this.
  • Debbie_9161664
    Debbie_9161664 Member Posts: 57
    edited April 2020
    Jobkeeper starts from the 30th March for all business, ATO will reimburse in May to business that Paid Jobkeeper payments in April.
    So Yes you do need to start adding the info in if the business has lost 30% or more of their business due to COVID-19
    Register with the ATO now if you are going to pay Jobkeeper
  • Debbie_9161664
    Debbie_9161664 Member Posts: 57
    edited April 2020
    treasury.gov.au/coronvirus/jobkeeper

    Information for employers

    If your business has been significantly impacted by the Coronavirus you will be able to access a wages subsidy to continue paying your employees. Under the JobKeeper program, you will be able to claim a fortnightly payment of $1,500 per eligible employee from 30 March 2020. This assistance will help you keep staff and restart when the crisis is over.


  • Kirsten_10564492
    Kirsten_10564492 Member Posts: 6
    edited April 2020
    So if my business is closed due to lack of work, and I'm currently paying employees annual or long service leave, do I need to be paying them the $750/week Jobkeeper portion, and then top it up with their leave?   And that starts as of right now?  If I keep just paying their leave, will I be eligible for the Jobkeeper payments?
  • Dylan Frederick
    Dylan Frederick Member Posts: 4
    edited April 2020


    Hi Kirsten, my understanding (but DYOR) is that you do the following:

    https://www.business.gov.au/Risk-management/Emergency-management/Coronavirus-information-and-support...

    Establish Business Eligibility: go through all the criteria (but if you comply with all others and you shutdown, then the comparison for turnover from similar period to the previous year will likely be 100% reduction in turnover)

    Unsure on the leave payments, but it appears you have to pay their "normal" wages if you are still trading. Refer below:

    "If an employee has been stood down, their employer must pay their employee, at a minimum, $1,500 per fortnight before tax"

    That's only if they are stood down. So I would assume if they are till working, then their normal wage would have to be paid. Ask your accountant to clarify for you.

    Cheers
    Dylan

  • Yumi
    Yumi Member Posts: 9
    edited April 2020
    Hi Rav,

    I will need to run payroll with "top up" payment this weekend. At this point, there is no options to add new item (e.g. JobKeeper payment top up) under ordinary payment (gross wages) section on STP mob app. Please advice how to record JobKeeper Payment on STP mob app.  

    Thanks,
    Yumi
  • Tian Lan
    Tian Lan Member Posts: 50
    edited April 2020
    Hi Dylan
    You might find this information helpful. I think we need to setup a new item to notify ATO about job keeper payments.


    STP pay event requirements
    Employers may use the STP pay event to notify the ATO of
    eligible employees.
    Payments made to eligible employees must be included in the
    STP Pay Event. Those who are paid $1,500 or more per
    fortnight should report as per the current reporting requirements.
    Those eligible employees who are paid less than $1,500 per
    fortnight must be paid a “top-up” amount to bring their taxable
    gross to $1,500 per fortnight for paydays within the JobKeeper
    fortnightly periods. These “top-up” amounts must be reported as
    an Allowance Item as:
    ? Other Allowances Type Code
    ? Description of the payment MUST appear in the Other
    Allowance Type Description as exactly: JOBKEEPERTOPUP
    (deviations from this exact description may
    significantly delay or prevent reimbursement)
    ? Amount reported must be the cumulative (YTD) top-up
    amount for the JobKeeper Payment
    For all employees, to inform the number of fixed fortnightly
    periods from which the payment started, the following Other
    Allowances must also be reported:
    ? To indicate the first JobKeeper fortnightly period for which
    the subsidy is payable, report the Other Allowance Type
    Description as exactly: JOBKEEPER-START-FNxx where
    “xx” refers to the fortnightly periods from which the payment
    first started. For example, JOBKEEPER-START-FN01 to
    indicate the payment applies from the 1st (30/03 to 12/04) of
    the 13 JobKeeper fortnights. Deviations from this exact
    description, including failure to use 2-char to indicate the
    period number, may significantly delay or prevent
    reimbursement. The allowance amount should be reported
    as zero.
    ? To indicate any exit of eligibility or termination of the
    employee, report the Other Allowance Type Description as
    exactly: JOBKEEPER-FINISH-FNxx where “xx” refers to
    the final fortnightly period to which the payment applies. For
    example, if an employee ceases working on 04/06, then
    JOBKEEPER-FINISH-FN05 indicates the 5th of 13
    JobKeeper fortnights was the final payment for which the
    subsidy may be reimbursed to the employer. The allowance
    amount should be reported as zero.
    For example, if the employer is back paying an eligible employee
    in an out of cycle payment on the last Friday in April to qualify for
    the subsidy, where the employee was paid only $1,000 per
    fortnight, then the Pay Event for fortnight 21 of 26 (within the
    financial year) will show:
    ? Gross – 21,000 (assuming $1,000 for each FN)
    ? Other – JOBKEEPER-TOPUP – 1,000 ($500 per FN)
    ? Other – JOBKEEPER-START-FN01 – 0


    Discussion welcome.
    Linda
  • Tian Lan
    Tian Lan Member Posts: 50
    edited April 2020
    Hi

    I found this from our external accountant KPMG, thought it might be helpful:

    STP pay event requirements
    Employers may use the STP pay event to notify the ATO of
    eligible employees.
    Payments made to eligible employees must be included in the
    STP Pay Event. Those who are paid $1,500 or more per
    fortnight should report as per the current reporting requirements.
    Those eligible employees who are paid less than $1,500 per
    fortnight must be paid a “top-up” amount to bring their taxable
    gross to $1,500 per fortnight for paydays within the JobKeeper
    fortnightly periods. These “top-up” amounts must be reported as
    an Allowance Item as:
    ? Other Allowances Type Code
    ? Description of the payment MUST appear in the Other
    Allowance Type Description as exactly: JOBKEEPERTOPUP
    (deviations from this exact description may
    significantly delay or prevent reimbursement)
    ? Amount reported must be the cumulative (YTD) top-up
    amount for the JobKeeper Payment
    For all employees, to inform the number of fixed fortnightly
    periods from which the payment started, the following Other
    Allowances must also be reported:
    ? To indicate the first JobKeeper fortnightly period for which
    the subsidy is payable, report the Other Allowance Type
    Description as exactly: JOBKEEPER-START-FNxx where
    “xx” refers to the fortnightly periods from which the payment
    first started. For example, JOBKEEPER-START-FN01 to
    indicate the payment applies from the 1st (30/03 to 12/04) of
    the 13 JobKeeper fortnights. Deviations from this exact
    description, including failure to use 2-char to indicate the
    period number, may significantly delay or prevent
    reimbursement. The allowance amount should be reported
    as zero.
    ? To indicate any exit of eligibility or termination of the
    employee, report the Other Allowance Type Description as
    exactly: JOBKEEPER-FINISH-FNxx where “xx” refers to
    the final fortnightly period to which the payment applies. For
    example, if an employee ceases working on 04/06, then
    JOBKEEPER-FINISH-FN05 indicates the 5th of 13
    JobKeeper fortnights was the final payment for which the
    subsidy may be reimbursed to the employer. The allowance
    amount should be reported as zero.
    For example, if the employer is back paying an eligible employee
    in an out of cycle payment on the last Friday in April to qualify for
    the subsidy, where the employee was paid only $1,000 per
    fortnight, then the Pay Event for fortnight 21 of 26 (within the
    financial year) will show:
    ? Gross – 21,000 (assuming $1,000 for each FN)
    ? Other – JOBKEEPER-TOPUP – 1,000 ($500 per FN)
    ? Other – JOBKEEPER-START-FN01 – 0
  • Dylan Frederick
    Dylan Frederick Member Posts: 4
    edited April 2020

    Hi Linda (Tian),

    Is it important to have allowance as the Pay Item? To help my employees food on the table, I created a  Earnings pay type and processed before reading your post. If the description is still JOBKEEPERTOPUP but for an Earnings Pay Type, will it matter? I still have to create the 2nd one with the Start Fortnight on it.

    Dylan
  • Rav
    Rav Administrator, Reckon Staff Posts: 15,305 Community Manager Community Manager
    edited April 2020
    Hi all,
    Our Jobkeeper announcement has been updated to include our full documentation on how to handle these new payments with Reckon software.

    Available here - Jobkeeper payments & Reckon software

    Alternatively, go directly to our Help site HERE


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  • Tian Lan
    Tian Lan Member Posts: 50
    edited April 2020
    Hi Dylan
    I'm not sure. It's ATO question. They have very strict description requirement for the job keeper. You may find below link helpful:

    https://support.yourpayroll.com.au/hc/en-au/articles/360001461816-Managing-the-JobKeeper-Payment

    Rav from Reckon also updated some information on the below post. Please read through

    https://community.reckon.com/reckon/topics/jobkeeper-payments-reckon-software

    Linda
  • Joanne Crooks
    Joanne Crooks Member Posts: 1
    edited July 2020
    Hi Rav

    I updated my STP mobile app with the update over the weekend but there is still no facility to name the top up allowance for employees as Jobkeeper. Will there be another update before Thursday 30th? Or will the ATO be able to identify the allowance as Jobkeeper? Thanks Joanne
  • Rav
    Rav Administrator, Reckon Staff Posts: 15,305 Community Manager Community Manager
    edited April 2020
    Hi Joanne,
    The free STP app will report JobKeeper payments a little differently to the our other payroll software. Check out our guide on this here -
    Reckon STP App JobKeeper Guide


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  • Rachel Ive
    Rachel Ive Member Posts: 1
    edited July 2020
    Hi Rav, for mobile free STP app in the example you attached $600 top up should include a tax withholding amount - where is this recorded? If it was to increase the tax withholding then not all "topup" will appear in the allowance section. Also ATO has requested description to state jobkeeper in connection with the allowance - how do you suggest this be reported i have version 1.13. thank you