24th September 2021
Late last week, ServiceNSW released updated guidance on the reconfirmation process that businesses and non-profit entities will need to follow to continue receiving payments under the JobSaver and Micro-business Grant schemes.
Broadly, entities will need to confirm each fortnight that they have maintained their headcount as at 13 July 2021 and that they have continued to experience a decline in turnover of at least 30%.
Two approaches to ascertain turnover
When it comes to the decline in turnover conditions there are two main approaches, depending on whether the business has traded during the relevant fortnight:
- If the business was closed during the relevant fortnight there is no requirement to perform a decline in turnover calculation and these entities can simply select ‘yes’ on the confirmation screen to indicate that they have continued to experience a decline in turnover of at least 30%;
- If the business has been trading then it will be necessary to perform some calculations to determine whether this condition is satisfied. There are three options that can potentially be used for this. It is important to note that entities must use the same option each time they reconfirm their eligibility.
Option 1: If the initial comparison period was in 2019 or 2020, then you can use the same year but adjust the comparison period to match the current fortnight that is being tested.
For example, if you initially compared the period of 26 July to 8 August 2021 to 26 July to 8 August 2019, and you are now reconfirming your eligibility for the period of 13 September to 26 September 2021, then your comparison period is 13 September to 26 September 2019. You cannot use 13 September to 26 September 2020 as your comparison period in this example.
Option 2: If the initial comparison period was in 2019 or 2020, then you can use the same year but use the same comparison period that you used in your original application.
For example, if you initially compared the period of 26 July to 8 August 2021 to 26 July to 8 August 2019, and you are now reconfirming your eligibility for the period of 13 September to 26 September 2021, then your comparison period remains 26 July to 8 August 2019. This comparison period will remain fixed for all future periods.
Option 3: If 12 June to 25 June 2021 was used as the initial comparison period then you must use the same period as your initial application when reconfirming eligibility.
For example, if you initially compared the period of 26 July to 8 August 2021 to 12 June to 25 June 2021, and you are now reconfirming your eligibility for the period of 13 September to 26 September 2021, then your comparison period remains 12 June to 25 June 2021. This comparison period will remain fixed for all future periods.
Key Points for Eligibility
Other key points that have been confirmed by Service NSW are summarised below:
- As eligibility will be reconfirmed each fortnight, some businesses may be eligible one fortnight and not eligible the next fortnight if their decline in turnover decreases again. Becoming ineligible for one fortnight does not disqualify a business from becoming eligible again in a future fortnight where they meet the eligibility conditions.
- It is possible to delay your reconfirmation and you can reconfirm for multiple fortnights in one go. For example, some entities might prefer to wait until month-end accounting records are finalised. Service NSW states that payments will be made within 5 days of the entity reconfirming its eligibility.
- You will not need to provide any additional evidence or attach any documentation when reconfirming your eligibility. You’ll need to maintain adequate records to show evidence of your eligibility if required at a later date.
- The person that submitted the initial application is required to submit the reconfirmation of eligibility.
- If the comparison period used in the initial application was more than 2 weeks (for example, a 3-week period), the turnover amount for the comparison period must be converted to a fortnightly amount for comparison purposes to the current turnover by dividing by the number of days in the period and multiplying by 14.
If you have any questions or concerns about the confirmations, please don’t hesitate to get in touch.
