Over 11 thousand Australians have been sent debt notices associated with JobKeeper wage subsides totalling an amount close to $33 million.
Services Australia has announced that since April 2021 11,771 welfare recipients had debts raised, following a review of JobKeeper and income support payments.
Employment Minister Stuart Robert told parliament that it was the government’s responsibility to make sure that debts were recovered fairly and respectfully under the law.
“When JobSeeker and JobKeeper were put into the Australian population, it was quite clear that Australians knew that you could not claim both,” said Employment Minister Stuart Robert.
Stuart Robert said everyone who was receiving the payments had to state they were not receiving both payments.
Despite the JobKeeper related debts for everyday Australians, the federal government has continued to resist calls to crack down on businesses that won’t hand back payments despite generating massive profits.
Opposition frontbencher Bill Shorten said that he believes the federal government is targeting ordinary Australians whilst refusing to demand refunds from big companies that banked $13 billion in JobKeeper while profits grew.
Services Australia compliance general manager Chris Birrer said people on JobSeeker and other payments had an obligation to report JobKeeper as income.
“It could impact whether or not they were eligible for a rate of JobSeeker or other income support payment or what the correct rate would be,” said Chris Birrer.
New Law Changes Means Covid-19 Payments To Businesses and Individuals Will Be Tax-Free
On Tuesday 3rd August, the Treasury Laws Amendment (Covid-19 Economic Response No. 2) Bill 2021 was introduced into Australian Parliament, thus confirming Scott Morrison’s recent comments that covid-19 disaster payments will now officially be tax-free.
Under the new changes, all covid-19 disaster payments dating back to its introduction on 3rd June 2021 will now be non-assessable non-exempt income, meaning recipients will take home more than they did under the $90 billion JobKeeper wage subsidy program, which was taxed.
Australian workers who lose 20 or more hours of work a week will receive $750 a week, while workers who lose between eight and 20 hours will receive $450.
Up until the Prime Minister’s comments on Thursday 29th July, official guidance from the Treasury, the Tax Office and Services Australia all stated that covid-19 disaster payments were taxable income.
Companies Who Received JobKeeper During Covid-19 Pandemic Will Remain Secret
Big businesses across Australia who received JobKeeper will be able to keep the financial support secret, with the Australian Government rejecting a bid to make it public and the federal opposition backing down from insisting on it.
The JobKeeper wage subsidy scheme saw over $5.6 billion go to businesses whose profits increased during the peak of the covid-19 pandemic in 2020.
Companies including; retailer Harvey Norman have come under pressure to repay the money after posting profits in 2020, given the wage subsidy was designed for companies experiencing at least a 30 percent drop in turnover.
In the first week of August 2021, independent senator Rex Patrick successfully amended the government’s legislation for the new financial support for workers and businesses affected by covid-19 lockdowns.
“The amendment requires the Tax Commissioner to publish all of the companies who earn more than $10 million who have received JobKeeper and the amount they have received,” said Senator Patrick.
The same requirement would apply to companies receiving payments under the new financial support scheme.
Although the bill was passed through the Senate with Labor’s support, the Coalition rejected it in the House of Representatives. This means the bill is now back before the Senate and due to be voted on once again.
Finance Minister Simon Birmingham defended the system, saying the businesses who claimed JobKeeper at the time were facing “genuine threat of long-term lockdowns and shutdowns”.
“For many it ended up being a slightly better proposition than expected at that stage. We don’t think it’s appropriate to create a circumstance where now they are vilified with some sort of pretence that they weren’t eligible when they were eligible. The actions of government and those businesses saved many thousands, if not millions, of Australian jobs and remains an important part of our economic recovery,” said Finance Minister Simon Birmingham.
It has recently been revealed that 157,650 businesses or employers increased their turnover between April 2020 and June 2020 when compared to the rates of turnover during those months in 2019.
In just three months, those payments accumulated to $4.6 billion in taxpayer-funded wage subsidies.
Businesses and charities across Australia were eligible for JobKeeper if their turnover had already fallen to certain levels, or if they predicted it would.