Month: September 2020
JobKeeper 2.0 – Extension 1 and Extension 2
From 28 September 2020, an employer may be eligible to access JobKeeper 2.0, a temporary wage subsidy for each eligible employee, at new lower rates until 28 March 2021. Whether you have accessed JobKeeper before now or are new to exploring your eligibility, all employers may consider JobKeeper 2.0 for their employees.
Now that JobKeeper 2.0 has started, this is what you need to know:
First, it is important to note that having previously been eligible for JobKeeper does NOT mean that your business will automatically be eligible for JobKeeper 2.0. Employers of eligible businesses will need to reassess their eligibility under a new set of requirements in early October 2020 and again in early January 2021.
Employer Eligibility:
From 28 September 2020, to receive JobKeeper 2.0, you must be an eligible employer or business.
To be eligible, your business is covered by the Fair Work Act and your business qualifies for JobKeeper – an Australian business employing at least one eligible employee during a JobKeeper payment period – and your business satisfies the actual decline in turnover test for the relevant quarter using actual sales (not projected sales).
You might need to demonstrate the relevant decline in turnover with a certificate from an accountant or a statutory declaration if you have a small business with fewer than 15 employees.
If you meet the criteria to receive JobKeeper 2.0, then you may give a JobKeeper enabling direction (such as changing work hours, duties and/or location – if reasonable in all the circumstances) under the Fair Work Act.
Two Tiers of JobKeeper 2.0 Rates:
TIER 1
$1,200 (before tax) per fortnight from 28 September 2020 until 3 January 2021 – for those employees who worked 80 hours or more in the four weeks prior to 1 March 2020 or 1 July 2020
$750 (before tax) per fortnight from 28 September 2020 until 3 January 2021 – for those employees who worked fewer than 80 hours in the four weeks prior to 1 March 2020 or 1 July 2020.
TIER 2
$1,000 (before tax) per fortnight from 4 January 2021 until 28 March 2021 – for those employees who worked 80 hours or more in the four weeks prior to 1 March 2020 or 1 July 2020
$650 (before tax) per fortnight from 4 January 2021 until 28 March 2021 – for those employees who worked fewer than 80 hours in the four weeks prior to 1 March 2020 or 1 July 2020.
Under both JobKeeper 2.0 Tiers 1 and 2, employers will pay a greater proportion of their employees’ wages because the minimum wage condition will still apply.
DATE REMINDER:
Extension 1 – From 28 September 2020 until 3 January 2021 Extension 2 – From 4 January 2021 until 28 March 2021
If you would like YML to manage Extension 1 of the JobKeeper 2.0 Incentive process for you, please do the following urgently. (Note, this engagement is for Extension 1 only at this point in time due to unknown possible impacts COVID-19 might have on your business. We will notify you of another engagement link for Extension 2 in our December 2020 newsletter).
- Click the link below to engage us and provide us with your bank account details https://app.hellosign.com/s/BohX9nzx
- Click the link below if you are a business owner – and not an employee – and have not yet completed the Business Participant form https://app.hellosign.com/s/Hu4BQXtt
- Provide the link below to your eligible employees that you had as of 1 July 2020 (who were not already eligible employees for any JobKeeper fortnights that ended on or before 2 August 2020) https://app.hellosign.com/s/7d8d4gQE
How can YML help?
We hope that this guide helps you to access the JobKeeper 2.0 Incentive scheme independently if that is your preference. Alternatively, please talk to our Accountants today if you would like to engage YML Chartered Accountants to manage an application on your behalf. Contact us on (02) 8383 4400 or by visiting the Contact Us page on our website.
COVID-19 and Estate Planning – Your Will
The year 2020 has brought with it the arrival of the COVID-19 virus to Australia’s shores. The unpleasant daily news of a ‘death tally’ presents us with an unimaginable scenario for ourselves. Many of us might find ourselves thinking about how to plan for family members left behind in the case of our own death. If you find yourself asking “What if?”, then perhaps it is a wake-up call to start reviewing any existing estate plan or to consider commencing estate planning arrangements.
Generally, people put off estate planning until too late or they have wills, trusts and documents that are no longer appropriate. Now is not the time to procrastinate but rather to apply a sense of urgency. Although generally a dreaded job, the benefit of doing this now is that you can potentially find comfort in knowing that your families, loved ones and dependents will be looked after in the event of your death.
Estate planning involves taking an inventory of what documents you need to have in place for unforeseen circumstances, especially ill health, and determining what your financial situation would be at the end of your life.
Documents may include one or more of the following:
- a will
- an enduring power-of-attorney
- an appointment of enduring guardian
- a shareholders’ agreement (for your business)
- a binding financial agreement (for your relationship)
- The person dying has no control over the distribution of their estate;
- Distribution occurs as directed by the Succession Act 2006 (NSW) with no distinction between real and personal property, gender or seniority, or existing wealth of heirs;
- An administrator (usually one of the beneficiaries) has to be appointed by the Supreme Court with time and cost implications;
- The estate may be shared between multiple spouses including ‘domestic partners’;
- A court-appointed administrator may have to establish the family tree using certificate evidence that can be time-consuming and costly; and
- If a child is a minor or if a beneficiary lacks capacity, a court may require an administration bond (guarantee from a third party) with time and cost implications.
How can YML help?
Talk to YML Group today to see how YML Group can assist you with your estate planning. Contact us on (02) 8383 4400, or by visiting the Contact Us page on our website.
How RPA and Bots are making Employees happier
Integrating robotic process automation (RPA) and bots in to your workplace might seem difficult, but many companies are achieving harmony between technology and their employees. Is it possible to have happier human workers despite RPA and bots in the workplace?
RPA is the use of software robots to process high volume, repeatable tasks by converting those tasks in to automated steps, providing a business with advantageous propositions such as reducing standardising workflow, reducing human error, improving productivity and saving time and money.
RPA ultimately improves value from employees who are freed from monotonous, manual tasks to focus on building work relationships and undertaking customer service.
Customers benefit from greater streamlined interaction with a company that uses RPA, but a company’s employees can also reap benefits. RPA helps employees to be more effective in the workplace, to enhance their human interactions and to work more strategically – and, yes, with a focus on their customers.
Employees may be happiest when they can equip themselves with technological tools that help them to work productively and at a higher cerebral level, simultaneously enabling a higher degree of human-to-human contact.
Today, most companies that use RPA and bots report high levels of employment satisfaction – after these technologies are incorporated alongside their employees – mostly around increased human interactions. With the effect of RPA being a reduction or elimination of back-of-house, tedious and repetitious tasks, employees may feel that their work contribution is now more meaningful.
When employees feel appreciated for their work, both by their superiors and the colleagues, therein lies the prospect of improved work productivity. As the full potential of RPA and bots becomes more exploited by a company’s management, so too is a business’s workforce able to engage more in the full scope of customer service and interpersonal development.
To free up your employees from labour-intensive manual tasks, and the associated stress of such work, and instead to help them to add value to your business, consider where your company can install suitable RPA and bots.
It is vital to identify the inefficient processes that require RPA alternatives and thereby remove the type of work that holds employees back from far more interesting and worthwhile work. Where RPA and bots play their greatest part is ‘partnering’ with humans and empowering employees in their jobs.
How can YML help?
Talk to our YML Innovation Team today to see how YML Group can assist you with digital automation. For more for more information, view our website and contact us on (02) 8383 4400 or by using our Contact Us page on our website.
