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JobMaker Hiring Credit

  • Updated

Please note: the information provided in this article around what these payments are and whether you and your employees are eligible has been resourced from the ATO. If you have specific questions on whether you are eligible to claim these payments, please refer to the ATO website or contact the ATO directly. 

 

Overview

The Government has implemented a new COVID initiative aimed at getting people back into the workforce. The JobMaker Hiring Credit (JMHC) will incentivise businesses to take on additional young job seekers. This will help some of the most impacted individuals access job opportunities as the economy recovers.

This article covers JobMaker eligibility and management in Astute. Please click on a subject heading below to navigate to the relevant section:

 

How does the JobMaker Hiring Credit initiative work?

The aim of the JMHC is to subsidise an increase in your employer numbers, not reduce the cost of replacing employees. As an employer, you must prove you are creating new employment positions, which must be reflected in your headcount and payroll.

The JMHC measure started on 07 October 2020 and will run through to 06 October 2022. Through this payment scheme, eligible employers will be able to receive payments of up to:

  • $200 a week – for each eligible additional employee aged 16 to 29 years old (inclusive).
  • $100 a week – for each eligible additional employee aged 30 to 35 years old (inclusive).

If your business and your new employees are eligible, you can register for the program and claim the JMHC payments for a period of 12 months for each new job filled with an eligible additional employee.

The JMHC will be paid 3 months in arrears to employers and can be claimed from 1 Feb 2021 for the first JobMaker period (7 October 2020 - 6 January 2021).

You can register any time until the program closes, however you must register prior to the end of the first JobMaker period you wish to claim for.

 

Is my business eligible for the JobMaker Hiring Credit?

If you hire new employees, you may be eligible to receive payments under the Job Maker Hiring Scheme. 

Employers must satisfy all of the following eligibility criteria. An employer must:

  • either:
    • operate a business in Australia; or,
    • be a not-for-profit organisation operating in Australia; or, 
    • be a deductible gift recipient (DGR) endorsed either as a public fund or for a public fund you operated under the Overseas Aid Gift Deductibility Scheme (DGR item 9.1.1) or for developed country relief (DGR item 9.1.2). 
  • hold an Australian business number (ABN);
  • be registered for pay as you go (PAYG) withholding;
  • have not claimed JobKeeper payments for a fortnight that started during the JobMaker period;
  • be up to date with income tax and GST returns for the two years up to the end of the JobMaker period for which they are claiming;
  • satisfy the payroll increase and the headcount increase conditions;
  • satisfy reporting requirements, including up to date Single Touch Payroll (STP) reporting; 
  • not belong to one of the ineligible employer categories

 

Register for JobMaker Hiring Credit

Eligible employers can register through:

  • ATO Online via myGov
  • Business Portal using myGovID
  • Registered Tax or BAS agent

To complete the registration, employers must provide a baseline headcount, their baseline payroll amount, and their contact details.

Baseline Head Count

The baseline head count:

  • will apply to the JobMaker periods in year one (October 2020 - October 2021). In the first year (ie the first four JobMaker periods from 7 October 2020 to 6 October 2021), your baseline headcount is the number of people you employed on 30 September 2020.
  • includes full-time, part-time, casual, fixed term, and non-fixed term employees
  • excludes contractors and subcontractors

If you are a new business and had no employees as of 30 September 2020, or you started carrying on a business after 30 September 2020, your baseline headcount is zero. 

More information on headcount requirements can be found here.

Baseline Payroll Amount

The baseline payroll amount is worked out by determining the payroll expenses in the three month period up to and including 6 October 2020 (a 92 day period).

  • If you are a new business that began after 6 October 2020, your baseline payroll amount is zero.
  • If your business only started employing employees part way through the three months up to 6 October 2020, your baseline payroll simply includes your payroll expenses. There is no change because it covers only part of the period, so the baseline payroll will simply be lower. 

More information on calculating your payroll expenses can be found here.

 

Is my employee eligible for the JobMaker Hiring Credit?

Employers should ask their employees to complete a JobMaker employee notice to declare that they are eligible for JobMaker. This is recommended to be completed at the start of the employment. 

Employee eligibility criteria as follows:

  • An employee was between 16-29 or 30-35 years old at the time of employment
  • An employee met the pre-employment requirements, as follows:
    • they received the JobSeeker Payment; or, 
    • they received Youth Allowance (other than on the basis that the individual was undertaking full-time study or was a new apprentice); or, 
    • they were in receipt of the Parenting Payment for at least 28 consecutive days (or two fortnights) within the 84 days (or six fortnights) before commencing employment.
  • An employee has not filled in a JobMaker employee notice for another employer that the employee is still working for

The ATO provided employee notice is available in either .pdf or .docx format. 

Alternatively, employers can choose to create their own employee notice form. If this is the case, the JobMaker employee notice must include the following information:

  • Your business details
    • Business name
    • Australian business number (ABN) of the entity
  • Employee start date
  • Employee details
    • Full name
    • Date of birth
    • Address
    • Contact phone number and/or email address.

 

Configure JobMaker Pay Items in Astute

There are specific pay items in Config > Payroll > Pay Items that have been configured for processing JobMaker in Astute. These pay items can be used to process nominations for employees so that your STP reporting is compliant. 

The following pay items have been configured:

JMHC-NOM JobMaker Hiring Credit Nomination Use this pay item to nominate an employee for JobMaker
JMHC-NOMX JobMaker Hiring Credit Cancellation Use this pay item to remove a nomination for an employee if they have been incorrectly nominated
JMHC-RENOM JobMaker Hiring Credit Renomination Use this pay item to renominate an employee who has ceased employment and is subsequently rehired and meets the eligibility criteria for JMHC payments
JMHC-RENOMX JobMaker Hiring Credit Renomination Cancellation Use this pay item to remove the nomination for rehire

Required Configuration Settings

These pay items have been preset with specific components, however, you will still need to review and complete the configuration for each item (eg entering the relevant GL Codes), based on your business’ requirements. 

The ATO requires very specific reporting of JobMaker, so any changes to the following preconfigured fields will delay or prevent a reimbursement being made:

  • Pay Item Name: the name and formatting of the name cannot be changed
  • Payment Summary Settings: must be set to Total Allowances
  • Allowance Type: must be set to Other

You can make changes to the other preconfigured fields at your discretion:

  • Pay Item Type: Allowance
  • Invoice Item Type: Timesheets

Delete JobMaker Pay Items

If your business is not participating in the JobMaker program, you can delete any pay items which are not required.

  1. Go to Config > Payroll > Pay Items.
  2. Select the relevant JobMaker pay items.
  3. Click With Selected Pay Items > Delete. 

 

Notify the ATO when an employee is eligible for JobMaker via STP

Eligible employers will need to identify eligible employees for JobMaker subsidies. The employee details that will be used by ATO to validate and calculate your JMHC are:

  • TFN. If there is no TFN then the employee will be ineligible for JobMaker Hiring Credit
  • Full Name
  • Commencement Date
  • Cessation Date (if applicable)
  • Date of Birth. You will be unable to claim JobMaker if this field is missing
  • Payee Payroll lD

Nomination for the JMHC program is done via STP. Eligible employees must have the JMHC-NOM item assigned to their profile, and this information must be submitted via STP to enrol an employee in the program.

There are two options to assign the pay item to employees: using the YTD importer or entering YTD Balances on the employee profile. The pay item should be set with an allowance amount of 0.01.

Using the YTD Importer

  1. Go to Config > Payroll > YTD Importer.
  2. Select the relevant financial year. 
  3. Click Download Template.
  4. Add the following information for each eligible employee against the relevant JMHC-NOM pay item. Do not make changes to any other columns
    • Units = 1
    • Total = 0.01
  5. Upload the edited file using YTD importer
  6. Go to Payroll > Process Payroll > STP Update to send an STP Update to the ATO.
  7. Review any validation errors
  8. Once reviewed, select the employees > With Selected… > Regenerate.
  9. Click With Selected… > Send to ATO.

Entering YTD Balances

  1. Go to Users > Employees > select an employee > YTD Balances > Add Pay Item.
  2. Add the relevant JMHC-NOM pay item for against the eligible employee
  3. Enter 1.0 as the Starting Units.
  4. Enter 0.01 as the Starting Total.
  5. Click Save.
  6. Go to Payroll > Process Payroll > STP Update to send an STP Update to the ATO.
  7. Review any validation errors
  8. Once reviewed, select the employees > With Selected… > Regenerate.
  9. Click With Selected… > Send to ATO.

If you choose to enter YTD balances, you will need to repeat the above process for each eligible employee. 

Remove employees through STP

If you incorrectly nominate an employee for the JobMaker Hiring Credit, you can remove them by adding the allowance pay item JMHC-NOMX to their pay when you next run your payroll.

Nomination Due Dates

Employers must nominate employees by the due date in the following table for each JobMaker period below.

JobMaker Period JobMaker period dates Due date for nominating employees in STP
1 7 October 2020 - 6 January 2021 27 April 2021
2 7 January 2021 - 6 April 2021 28 July 2021
3 7 April 2021 - 6 July 2021 28 October 2021
4 7 July 2021 - 6 October 2021 28 January 2022
5 7 October 2021 - 6 January 2022 27 April 2022
6 7 January 2022 - 6 April 2022 28 July 2022
7 7 April 2022 - 6 July 2022 28 October 2022
8 7 July 2022 - 6 October 2022 28 January 2023

Your nominated employees will be available to view online with the ATO by February 2021. 

 

Updating employee details

If any nominated employee details are missing or incorrect, you can add or update these by running a payroll event and submitting this through STP. It may take up to 72 hours to process this information.

 

JobMaker Duration and Claiming Periods

The claim process for the JMHC is every three months in arrears from 01 February 2021 to 31 January 2023. 

A claim for an eligible employee can only be made within a period of up to 12 months after their commencement of employment with the employer, or until the STP reported cessation date, whichever comes first. 

JobMaker Period JobMaker period dates Claim period
1 7 October 2020 - 6 January 2021 1 February 2021 - 30 April 2021
2 7 January 2021-  6 April 2021 1 May 2021 - 31 July 2021
3 7 April 2021 - 6 July 2021 1 August 2021 - 31 October 2021
4 7 July 2021 - 6 October 2021 1 November 2021 - 31 January 2022
5 7 October 2021 - 6 January 2022 1 February 2022 - 30 April 2022
6 7 January 2022 - 6 April 2022 1 May 2022 - 31 July 2022
7 7 April 2022 - 6 July 2022 1 August 2022 - 31 October 2022
8 7 July 2022 - 6 October 2022 1 November 2022 - 31 January 2023

 

Before you make a claim

In order to make a claim, the following conditions must be met:

You can read more on making JobMaker claims on the ATO website. 

 

Report Eligible Employees for a JobMaker Period

Employees will need to meet a minimum hour requirement in order to be considered eligible for a JobMaker period. They must work a minimum average of 20 hours per week across each JobMaker period from the time that they are employed and can be reported via STP using the Allowance Type ‘Other’.

There are specific pay items configured in Config > Payroll > Pay Items to report that an employee has met the minimum hour requirement. You can check and update the pay item configuration as required. Please refer to Required Configuration Settings for more information.

The following pay items have been configured for each period:

JobMaker Period Period Dates Allowance pay item required for Quarter test met declaration Allowance pay item required to remove incorrect declaration
1 7 October 2020 - 6 January 2021 JMHC-P01 JMHC-P01X
2 7 January 2021 - 6 April 2021 JMHC-P02 JMHC-P02X
3 7 April 2021 - 6 July 2021 JMHC-P03 JMHC-P03X
4 7 July 2021 - 6 October 2021 JMHC-P04 JMHC-P04X
5 7 October 2021 - 6 January 2022 JMHC-P05 JMHC-P05X
6 7 January 2022 - 6 April 2022 JMHC-P06 JMHC-P06X
7 7 April 2022 - 6 July 2022 JMHC-P07 JMHC-P07X
8 7 July 2022 - 6 October 2022 JMHC-P08 JMHC-P08X

There are two options to assign the pay item to employees: using the YTD importer or entering YTD Balances on the employee profile. 

Using the YTD Importer Example

  1. Go to Config > Payroll > YTD Importer.
  2. Select the relevant financial year. 
  3. Click Download Template.
  4. Add the following information for each eligible employee against the applicable JobMaker Claim Period  pay item (eg. JMHC-P01). Do not make changes to any other columns
    • Units = 1
    • Total = 0.01
  5. Upload the edited file using YTD importer
  6. Go to Payroll > Process Payroll > STP Update to send an STP Update to the ATO.
  7. Review any validation errors.
  8. Once reviewed, select the employees > With Selected… > Regenerate.
  9. Click With Selected… > Send to ATO.

Entering YTD Balances

  1. Go to Users > Employees > select an employee > YTD Balances > Add Pay Item.
  2. Add the following information for each eligible employee against the applicable JobMaker Claim Period  pay item (eg JMHC-P01).
  3. Enter 1.0 as the Starting Units.
  4. Enter 0.01 as the Starting Total.
  5. Click Save.
  6. Go to Payroll > Process Payroll > STP Update to send an STP Update to the ATO.
  7. Review any validation errors.
  8. Once reviewed, select the employees > With Selected… > Regenerate.
  9. Click With Selected… > Send to ATO.

 

Headcount Increase

An increase in headcount means the number of employees employed by you at the end of each JobMaker period is higher than the number of employees in your baseline headcount. The difference is your headcount increase. This will be used in calculating your claim.

You can learn more about headcount requirements here.

 

Payroll Increase

Payroll expenses must have increased in the JobMaker period when compared to the baseline period. If your payroll has not increased, you will not be eligible for a payment.

More information on calculating your payroll expenses can be found here.

 

How to make a claim

You will need to claim JobMaker Hiring Credit payments online. The first claim will be available online from 1 February 2021.

Employers can claim through:

  • ATO Online via myGov
  • Business Portal using myGovID
  • Registered Tax or BAS agent

For more information on completing a JobMaker claim please refer to the ATO Website.

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