RH Commercial Insight

10 Understanding the relationship between JobKeeper and Mandatory Code for Rent Relief Wri tt en by Bill Wight, Future Pro fi t JobKeeper is a key piece in the survival of many small businesses. JobKeeper provides valuable cash inwards to support and retain their employees. They receive $1,500 per fortnight per employee as a reimbursement after they have paid the employee. But importantly from a landlord and tenant perspective, eligibility for JobKeeper also unlocks Rent Relief for business owners. The di ff erence here is that the business owner is able to reduce the rent outgoing to preserve cash, rather than receiving cash as a reimbursement. The trigger for the Mandatory Code to kick in is the very same 30% decrease in turnover test that business-owners must pass to be eligible for the JobKeeper subsidy. Here’s what a business owner must do to be eligible for JobKeeper: Firstly, business-owners must establish that they are an eligible employer which consists of four elements. The most important of these is the Decline in Turnover Test. The elements of the decline in turnover test can be illustrated in the example below: Future Pro fi t Jobkeepeer Turnover Eligibility Worksheet Current GST Turnover Projected GST Turnover Decline Decline % Mar-19 $29,112 Mar-20 $25,807 $3,305 11% Not Eligible Apr-19 $49,216 Apr-20 $32,000 $17,216 35% Eligible May-19 $23,486 May-20 $30,000 -$6,154 No decline Not Eligible Jun-19 $119,324 Jun-20 $35,000 $84,324 71% Eligible Jul-19 $41,312 Jul-20 $35,000 $6,312 15% Not Eligible Aug-19 $35,455 Aug-20 $35,000 $455 1% Not Eligible Sep-19 $31,188 Sep-20 $35,000 -$3,812 No decline Not Eligible Apr-19 to Jun-19 $192,026 $97,000 $95,026 49% Eligible Jul-19 to Sep-19 $107,955 $105,000 $2,955 3% Not Eligible Basically the Projected GST turnover decline must be greater than 30% in any one of nine periods compared to the comparative period. The nine periods consist of any one of seven months or two quarters. It is important to note that the business only needs to satisfy the decline in turnover just once. Whilst the business must report their turnover every month this reporting is for statistical purposes rather than retesting eligibility. Once they have established they have an eligible business, business-owners can enrol in JobKeeper. FuturePro fi t provides fi xed price service to assess eligibility and e ff ect enrolment for $275 per entity. The business-owner is required to pay eligible employees the minimum $1,500 within each fortnight and is reimbursed on a monthly basis. In order to receive the reimbursement, the entity is required to report turnover and speci fi c details of eligible employee payments within 7 days of the end of each month. FuturePro fi t provides a fi xed-price service to DO the monthly reporting for $220 per month per entity.