Huge additional JobKeeper concession announced for charities

Based on the Treasurer’s announcement over the weekend, charities now have the option of excluding Government income from their JobKeeper turnover test (i.e. in proving a 15% decline). That means the turnover reduction can be limited to the comparison of non-Government income sources, such as donations and fee for service. See the media release here.

We can see that this concession will assist many more organisations to meet the eligibility test for JobKeeper, including some of our clients.

With the cancellation of much service activity (due to Covid-19 conditions), we have seen an immediate decline in fee for service income across our client group. This will be a key category of turnover decline for many organisations.

The situation regarding donations income is more challenging to forecast. The timing and overall decline needs to be reasonably forecast and we will work closely with our clients on this aspect.

Enrolment date extended

The ATO has also extended the time to enrol for the initial JobKeeper periods, from 30 April 2020 until 31 May 2020. Orgs enrolling by 31 May will still be able to claim for JobKeeper fortnights in April and May, though staff payments for April must be made by the end of April. Payments for May must be made by the appropriate fortnight in May.

Our next steps

• We will be digging into any further detail that is released. The announcement is plainly worded, however we will be seeking to make sure the detail is consistent with the announcement. If any significant new details emerge we will communicate with our affected clients as appropriate.
• We will continue to provide turnover assessments and advice to our clients
• We will be processing applications for those clients that engage us to do so