Broadly, JobKeeper Payments received by an employer are assessable income to the employer.

Likewise, the payments an employer subsequently makes to an employee that are funded (in whole or in part by the JobKeeper Payment) are generally allowable deductions to the employer.

The ATO has recently issued some guidance for employers in receipt of JobKeeper Payments.

For sole traders, they will need to include the payments as business income in their individual tax return.

For partnerships or trusts, JobKeeper payments should be reported as business income in the relevant partnership or trust tax return.

For a company, report JobKeeper payments as income in the company tax return.

For a taxpayer that has repaid (or is in the process of repaying) any of their JobKeeper payments to the ATO, these amounts do not need to be included in their tax return.

Note a business would be refunding JobKeeper payments to the ATO if it had been discovered that the business had incorrectly claimed JobKeeper payments, and had either voluntarily disclosed this to the ATO, or the ATO made this determination as a result of audit activity.

The normal rules for deductibility apply in respect of the amounts a taxpayer pays to their employees, even where those amounts are subsidised by the JobKeeper payment.

That is, if the underlying salary is deductible, then it is still deductible to the employer where it has been subsidised by a JobKeeper payment.

For employees who have received JobKeeper payments, these will be included as salary and wages (or an allowance) in their income statement (or payment summary) as provided by their employer.

If you have any queries about the JobKeeper Payment scheme, please contact Taxwise on (08) 9248 8124.