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Australia only

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Last updated 12 January 2021

The examples in this help topic have been updated to reflect the JobKeeper extension period 2 payment amounts which began on 4 January 2021.

For key dates and actions for employers, see the ATO website.

JobKeeper is a government scheme to help businesses during COVID-19. If your business is eligible you'll be able to keep paying your employees. You'll then submit a monthly declaration to get reimbursed by the government. You'll find all the details about JobKeeper on the ATO website.

We'll step you through how to set up MYOB Essentials for JobKeeper and make payments to your employees. If you've already been paying employees under the original JobKeeper scheme, we'll explain what's changed for the JobKeeper extension and what you need to do.

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JobKeeper extension

JobKeeper has been extended from 28 September 2020 until 28 March 2021. Under this extension, the JobKeeper payment rate has changed. It's now based on an employee's hours worked and the extension period.

For all the details on the JobKeeper extension, visit the ATO website.

Already enrolled for JobKeeper?

If you've been paying your employees under the JobKeeper scheme, you don't need to enrol again. But if you haven't already, you'll need to determine your employees' JobKeeper payment tier levels (Tier 1 or Tier 2) and notify them to the ATO. For help with this, see Choosing employee JobKeeper tier levels.

You've likely already completed the other setup tasks below, but take a quick look if you're not sure. You might want to take a look at task 4 'Pay your employees during JobKeeper' to see some examples of pays using the new JobKeeper payment rates.

Managing JobKeeper in MYOB Essentials

Complete each of these tasks to get set up for JobKeeper and pay your employees under the scheme.

 

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title1. Check if you're eligible for JobKeeper

For all the details on JobKeeper eligibility for businesses, visit the ATO website. In summary, to be eligible for JobKeeper payments your business needs to show a fall in GST turnover compared to the same period a year ago.

The required fall in GST turnover is:

  • 30% for an aggregated turnover of $1 billion or less
  • 50% for an aggregated turnover of more than $1 billion
  • 15% for ACNC-registered charities other than universities and schools

To work out the change in your GST turnover, we've provided a handy calculator in the Payroll reporting centre. For all the details on using this calculator, see Working out your GST turnover.

If you're eligible and you haven't already enrolled, you'll need to enrol for JobKeeper with the ATO.

What about sole traders?

Sole traders (with no employees) may be eligible to receive JobKeeper payments if their business has experienced a downturn according to the ATO’s eligibility criteria.

If you’re eligible, there’s no need to set yourself up as an employee in MYOB Essentials – just enrol directly with the ATO.

When you receive JobKeeper payments from the government, you'll need to:

  • complete task 2a below to set up a new income account (you only need to do this once), and
  • complete task 6 below to record your JobKeeper payments as receive money transactions in MYOB Essentials.
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title2. Set up JobKeeper payments

Once you've completed the enrollment process, you can set up the following in MYOB Essentials:

  • a new income account - for receiving JobKeeper payments from the government
  • a new wage pay item (allowance) - to report all JobKeeper top-up payments you pay to employees
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titlea. Set up an income account to receive JobKeeper payments

We'll start by creating an income account for the JobKeeper payments you receive from the government. Remember—you pay your employees under JobKeeper, then the government reimburses you the following month.

We'll set up this account as an "other income" type account (8-xxxx), but you could also set it up as an income account type (4-xxxx). If you're not sure which account type best suits your business, check with an accounting advisor.

  1. Click your business name and choose Accounts list.
  2. Click Add new. The Add new box appears, in the Accounts tab.
  3. Enter a unique Number for the account that suits your accounts list.

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    Don’t use your real account number for bank and credit card accounts

    The number you enter here is only used for tracking the account in MYOB Essentials. You don’t need to use your real bank or credit card account number.

  4. Enter the Name as JOBKEEPER SUBSIDY NO GST.
  5. Choose Other Income from the Type list.
  6. Choose NTR from the Tax Rate list.
  7. Click Save to add the accounts.
    Here's our example:
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titleb. Set up a JobKeeper wage (allowance) pay item

Under JobKeeper, eligible employees must be paid a minimum amount (see the information at the start of this topic). If an employee's regular pay is less than the JobKeeper payment amount or they've been stood down, you'll need to "top-up" their pay using a new JobKeeper wage pay item.

This new pay item must be named JOBKEEPER-TOPUP to ensure the payments are reported correctly to the ATO.

 

To set up the JOBKEEPER-TOPUP pay item:

  1. Go to the Payroll menu and choose Employees.
  2. Click the employee's name.
  3. Click the Pay items - earnings & deductions tab.
  4. Under Earnings, add a new earning called JOBKEEPER-TOPUP.
  5. Select the option, JobKeeper top-up payment. The following fields are automatically completed:
    • Type
    • Name
    • Rate (Fixed amount)
    • Amount (0.00)
    • Tax (Taxable)
    • ATO reporting category (Allowance - Other)

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      To prevent rejected STP reports, these fields are not editable. You can change the Name on the payslip.

  6. Decide whether you need to Pay super on this earning.

    As per the government's information, you must pay super on an employee's regular pay amount, but you can choose whether to pay super on JobKeeper top-up amounts.

    Take a look at these examples for fortnightly paid employees:

    Regular fortnightly incomeFortnightly income with JobKeeperSuper is paid onYou can choose to pay super on
    $550$650 (Tier 2 employee)$550$50
    $800$1000 (Tier 1 employee)$800$200
    $3000$3000 (Tier 1 employee)$3000N/A

    Here's our example pay item:

  7. Click Save. The new earning is now listed for the employee.
  8. Click Save to save your changes to the employee.
  9. Click the name of another employee that will receive JobKeeper.
  10. Click the Pay items - earnings & deductions tab.
  11. Under Earnings, choose the JOBKEEPER-TOPUP pay item.
  12. Click Save.
  13. Repeat steps 9 to 12 for every employee that will be receiving JobKeeper.
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title3. Notify the ATO of eligible employees and payment rates

You need to let the ATO know what the first fortnight is that you're paying each eligible employee under JobKeeper. You also need to advise what each employee's payment rate will be: Full rate (Tier 1) or Part rate (Tier 2). Tell me more about these payment rates.

You'll need to complete these steps for your current eligible employees, and any employees who become eligible during the scheme. Tell me more about eligible employees.

Here's how to notify the ATO of your eligible employees and their payment rates:

  1. Go to the Payroll menu and choose Payroll Reporting.

  2. Click the JobKeeper payments tab.

  3. Select an eligible employee.  
  4. In the First JobKeeper fortnight list, choose the relevant fortnightly period during which your employee started receiving JobKeeper.

  5. Choose whether the employee is Full rate (Tier 1) or Part rate (Tier 2). For help working this out, click View employee benefits report. Help me choose my employee tiers.

  6. Repeat for each eligible employee.

  7. Once you've selected all eligible employees, click Notify the ATO.

  8. When prompted, enter the name of the authorised sender and click Send
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To stop paying an employee JobKeeper payments, you'll need to enter a finish fortnight for them and inform the ATO. See the FAQs below for details.

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title4. Pay your employees during JobKeeper

The pays you complete under JobKeeper will look quite similar to any other pay day, but with these changes:

For employees who:

  • earn more than the minimum JobKeeper payment amount, enter their pay as you normally would against the relevant pay items
  • earn less than the minimum JobKeeper payment amount, enter their regular pay as you normally would against the relevant pay items, and the top-up amount (to bring their pay up to the JobKeeper minimum) against the JOBKEEPER-TOPUP pay item
  • are stood down, enter their total JobKeeper payment against the JOBKEEPER-TOPUP pay item.
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If this is your first pay under JobKeeper, make sure you've notified the ATO of all eligible employees. For details, see task 3 'Notify the ATO of eligible employees and payment rates'.

JobKeeper payment rates

Under the JobKeeper extension, the ATO introduced two payment rates based on an employee's eligibility. Here are the JobKeeper payment rates (before tax) based on pay frequency during both JobKeeper extension periods. Learn more about the payment rates on the ATO website.

Pay frequencyFull rate (Tier 1)Part rate (Tier 2)
 

Extension Period 2

(4 Jan 2021 - 28 Mar 2021)

Extension Period 2

(4 Jan 2021 - 28 Mar 2021)

Weekly$500$325
Fortnightly$1000$650
Twice a Month$1083$704.17
Monthly*$2167*$1408*
*This amount is averaged across 12 months. Monthly paid employees must receive at least the fortnightly payment amount for each full JobKeeper fortnight within the month.
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titleTo process a JobKeeper pay
  1. From the Payroll menu, choose Enter pay. The Pay centre page appears. 

  2. Under Confirm dates:

    1. In the How often field, choose the pay frequency. For example, if it's a weekly pay, choose Weekly.

    2. In the From and To fields, chose the first and last day of the pay period.

    3. Choose the Pay on date. This is typically the day you're processing the pay run.

  3. Under Select employees to pay:

    1. Select the employees you're paying.

    2. Click in the Email   column to select which employees you want to email payslips to. You'll need to have entered their email addresses on the Employee details tab of their employee record to be able to email their payslip.

      A tick  shows in the Bank File column if the employee is being paid electronically.

  4. Under Pay run, click Start pay run. The Pay run page appears where you can review the pay details.
  5. On the Pay run page, enter each employee's pay. Refer to the table above for JobKeeper payment rates for Tier 1 and Tier 2 employees.

    If an employee isDo this
    being paid less than the JobKeeper payment
    1. Enter the hours for the work they've done against Normal.
    2. Enter the top-up amount against the JOBKEEPER-TOPUP pay item to bring their pay up to the required JobKeeper payment amount. See the FAQ below for more details.
    being paid more than the JobKeeper payment

    Enter their hours as you normally would against Normal.

    stood down Enter the full JobKeeper payment against the JOBKEEPER-TOPUP pay item. Stood down employees still accrue their usual leave entitlements. See the FAQ below for more details.

    Here are some examples:

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    Example 1: Tier 1 employee paid less than $500 a week

    Here's an example of a casual employee who works 20 hours per week and whose pay is less than the minimum JobKeeper amount they're entitled to ($500).

    For their 20 hours they earn $450 a week. Under JobKeeper, they'll now earn $500 a week so we've put their extra $50 against the JOBKEEPER-TOPUP pay item.

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    Example 2: Tier 2 employee paid more than $650 per fortnight

    Here's a part time employee whose fortnightly pay is more than the minimum JobKeeper amount they're entitled to ($650). They normally earn $950 a fortnight. Under JobKeeper, they'll still be paid the same.

    So we'll enter their pay as we normally would against Normal.

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    Example 3: Employee who is stood down

    Here's a Tier 1 full time employee who has been stood down. Regardless of what they were earning while working, they'll now receive the full Tier 1 JobKeeper payment.

    So in their fortnightly pay we'll enter $1000 against the JOBKEEPER-TOPUP pay item.

  6. After entering the JobKeeper amount and adjusting the employee's Normal amount, complete the rest of the pay run as normal. Need a refresher?
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title5. Make a monthly JobKeeper declaration to the ATO

You need to provide a monthly JobKeeper declaration to the ATO about your current and next month's turnover and to reconfirm your business details and employee eligibility. 

You'll need to declare this information to the ATO between the 1st to the 14th day of each month to receive reimbursements for the JobKeeper payments you made to your eligible employees in the previous month.

For all the details see Monthly JobKeeper declarations.

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title6. Receive JobKeeper payments from the government

The JobKeeper payments you receive from the government will be deposited into your nominated bank account.

How you record these payments depends on whether or not you have a bank feed set up on that account.

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titleIf you use bank feeds

If you use bank feeds

The deposits from the government will appear in MYOB Essentials when your bank feed transactions appear.

  • If you've already recorded a Receive Money transaction for the deposit (as described below), you can match the bank feed transaction to it.
  • If you haven't already recorded a Receive Money transaction for the deposit, you can allocate the deposit to the income account you created earlier. For details about allocating, see Allocating bank transactions.
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titleIf you don't use bank feeds

You'll need to manually record a receive money transaction, like this:

  1. Create a receive money transaction (Banking menu> Receive money). Need a refresher?
  2. In the Deposit into field, select the account the money is being deposited into.
  3. In the Notes field, enter a description for this transaction.
  4. If you've set up the Australian Government or the ATO as a contact, choose it from the Payer list. You can add a new payer by clicking Add customer from the Payer list and entering their details.
  5. In the Allocate to field, select the income account you created earlier.
  6. In the Amount column, enter the JobKeeper payment amount you've received.
    Here's our example:
  7. Click Save.
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<h2><i class="fa fa-comments"></i>&nbsp;&nbsp;FAQs</h2><br>
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titleWhat if my business is no longer eligible for JobKeeper?

What if my business is no longer eligible for JobKeeper?

If your business is no longer eligible for JobKeeper, for example you’re not eligible for the JobKeeper extension, there's nothing you need to do in MYOB Essentials. As you'll no longer be making a monthly declaration to the ATO, you'll no longer be included in the scheme. 

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titleHow are leave accruals affected by JobKeeper?

How are leave accruals affected by JobKeeper? 

Typically, an eligible employee's leave entitlements will not change under JobKeeper. The amount of leave they were accruing before JobKeeper, will continue to accrue during JobKeeper.  For more information, visit this Fair Work website.

If you need to record leave accruals for employees receiving JobKeeper, for example a stood down employee, you'll need to use a new pay item for this.

This new pay item will only be used to calculate leave accruals and will have no dollar amount against it. Therefore, it won't need to be reported to the ATO.

Let's step you through it:

  1. Go to the Payroll menu and choose Employees.
  2. Click the employee's name.
  3. Click the Pay items - earnings & deductions tab.
  4. Under Earnings, click the Add earning dropdown button and choose Create new earning.

  5. Set up the pay item as per below:

  6. Click Save.

  7. Assign this pay item to any other employee who needs to accrue leave under JobKeeper.

When you pay the employee, enter the amount of hours they need to accrue leave on.

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Example: A Tier 2 employee who has been stood down and is currently being paid $650 per week as part of JobKeeper.

We've entered the following:

  • 30 hours against the Leave Accruals - Stand Down pay item (this has a 0.00 amount).
  • 650 against the JOBKEEPER-TOPUP pay item.

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Need to adjust an employee's leave balance? See Managing your employees’ leave. If you're really stuck, contact us or speak to an MYOB Partner.

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titleWhat if I've paid my employees before setting up JobKeeper?

What if I've paid my employees before setting up JobKeeper?

No problem, there's no need to change the pays you've already done.

Before your next pay run, make sure you notify the ATO of the eligible employees and their payment rate via the payroll reporting centre. For details, see task 3 'Notify the ATO of eligible employees and payment rates'.

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When notifying the ATO, make sure you choose the relevant fortnightly period during which your employee started receiving JobKeeper and their employee tier.

For example, if you've already paid employees during the period 28/09/2020 - 12/10/2020, you need to choose the 28 Sep - 12 Oct fortnightly period in the First JobKeeper fortnight field.

Do I have to pay back pay?

As the ATO requires each eligible employee to be paid the minimum JobKeeper payment rate, you'll need to make sure your first JobKeeper pay includes any required back pay.

 

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Example: Tier 1 employee whose regular fortnightly pay is $1100 and is owed JobKeeper back pay

Your business became eligible for JobKeeper from 28 September (14th fortnight of JobKeeper scheme), but you already processed a pay for the employee on 5 October (before you set up JobKeeper in MYOB Essentials). Your next pay is scheduled for 12 October (15th fortnight of JobKeeper scheme).

You need to work out the amount of JobKeeper back pay you owe the employee from the previous pay and add it to their next pay.

So, if you've paid your employee their regular pay of $1100 per fortnight, your next pay will need to include the $100 JobKeeper top-up back pay, as well as the additional $100 they would be getting for this fortnight's JobKeeper top-up.

$1100 (regular pay) + $100 (JobKeeper top-up backpay) + $100 (JobKeeper top-up current pay) = $1300. This will bring their total gross pay for this fortnight to $1300.

This means $200 needs to be recorded against the JOBKEEPER-TOPUP pay item.

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titleAn employee has become ineligible during the JobKeeper extension. What should I do?

An employee has become ineligible during the JobKeeper extension. What should I do?

If an employee becomes ineligible during the JobKeeper scheme, you need to notify the ATO via Single Touch Payroll, by choosing a Final JobKeeper fortnight for the employee.

  1. Go to the Payroll menu and choose Payroll Reporting.

  2. Click the JobKeeper payments tab.
  3. Select the employee.
  4. In the Final JobKeeper fortnight list, choose the fortnightly period after the last JobKeeper payment they've received. For example, if an employee's last JobKeeper payment is 12 October (during FN15) then choose 26 Oct - 08 Nov JOBKEEPER-FINISH-FN16 as the Final JobKeeper fortnight.

  5. Click Notify the ATO.

  6. When prompted, enter the name of the authorised sender and click Send

This will inform the ATO that the employee will no longer receive JobKeeper payments. 

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titleWhat if I've sent the wrong JobKeeper start or finish date for an employee?

What if I've sent the wrong JobKeeper start or finish date for an employee?

You can change (or remove) the start and finish dates you've sent for an employee, but the ATO will only accept the earliest of the dates you send.

For all the details see Changing an employee's JobKeeper start or finish date.

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titleHow do I stop paying JobKeeper to an employee?

How do I stop paying JobKeeper to an employee?

If you need to make a final JobKeeper payment to an employee, you need to notify the ATO via Single Touch Payroll, by choosing a Final JobKeeper fortnight date for the employee.

  1. Go to the Payroll menu and choose Payroll Reporting.

  2. Click the JobKeeper payments tab.
  3. Select the employee.
  4. In the Final JobKeeper fortnight list, choose the fortnightly period after the last JobKeeper payment they've received. For example, if an employee's last JobKeeper payment is 12 October (during FN15) then choose 26 Oct - 08 Nov JOBKEEPER-FINISH-FN16 as the Final JobKeeper fortnight.

  5. Click Notify the ATO.

  6. When prompted, enter the name of the authorised sender and click Send

This will inform the ATO that the employee will no longer receive JobKeeper payments. 


 

 

 

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titleRelated topics
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Creating pay items

Do a pay run

Receive money