• Payment will be made through the BAS/IAS process to employers with a turnover of less than $50m that employ staff as at 12 March 2020. The concession has now also been extended to not-for-profits and similar association that employ staff.
• Initially the Government provided up to $25,000 with a minimum of $2,000 for eligible businesses. This has now been increased to a maximum of $100,000 and a minimum of $20,000.(Split up over the 2 quarters but the 2nd payment could be paid over several months as per the below examples)
• The payments will be made as a credit of up to 100% of the amount withheld from salary and wages [up from 50%] and will be automatically applied to activity statements starting with your March BAS.

The payment will be split though between the following periods:

• March to June 2020 Activity Statements = minimum of $10,000 and a maximum of $50,000
• June to September 2020 Activity Statements = a further minimum of $10,000 and a maximum of a further $50,000

The second additional payment will require the entity to continue to be active and will be delivered as a portion of the amount previously paid under these incentives in the earlier period. It will be paid as follows:

• Quarterly Activity Statement lodgers = half of the amount previously paid on lodgement of June BAS and a half on lodgement of the September BAS.
• Monthly Activity Statement lodgers = quarter of amount previously paid on lodgement of the June, July, August and September BAS/IAS’s.

When you work through the examples provided from Treasury it shows that the initial payment will be effective based on the wages for January, February and March 2020.

Example 1: Monthly PAYG Withholdings of more than $16,667 [and monthly lodger]

If your March BAS’s shows PAYG Withholdings of $16,667, you will receive payments as follows:

• 28 Apr 2020 [on lodgement of Mar BAS] = $50,000 [$16,667 x 3]
• 21 May 2020 [on lodgement of Apr IAS] = $0 [because already received max]
• 21 Jun 2020 [on lodgement of May IAS] = $0 [because already received max]
• 28 Jul 2020 [on lodgement of Jun BAS] = $12,500 [¼ of $ previously received]
• 21 Aug 2020 [on lodgement of Jul IAS] = $12,500 [¼ of $ previously received]
• 21 Sep 2020 [on lodgement of Aug IAS] = $12,500 [¼ of $ previously received]
• 28 Oct 2020 [on lodgement of Sep BAS] = $12,500 [¼ of $ previously received]

Example 2: Monthly PAYG Withholdings of $10,000 [and monthly lodger]

If your March BAS’s shows PAYG Withholdings of $10,000, you will receive payments as follows:

• 28 Apr 2020 [on lodgement of Mar BAS] = $30,000 [$10,000 x 3]
• 21 May 2020 [on lodgement of Apr IAS] = $10,000 [100% of PAYGW amount] - received because you haven;t reached the $50k minimum by 28 April
• 21 Jun 2020 [on lodgement of May IAS] = $10,000 [100% of PAYGW amount and max] - again this is received because you haven't reached the $50k minimum by 28 April
• 28 Jul 2020 [on lodgement of Jun BAS] = $12,500 [¼ of $ previously received]
• 21 Aug 2020 [on lodgement of Jul IAS] = $12,500 [¼ of $ previously received]
• 21 Sep 2020 [on lodgement of Aug IAS] = $12,500 [¼ of $ previously received]
• 28 Oct 2020 [on lodgement of Sep BAS] = $12,500 [¼ of $ previously received]

After thinking about why the Government is spreading out the 2nd benefit, my contention is that they are spreading out their cash flow.

There are more examples in the Treasury documents at https://treasury.gov.au/sites/default/files/2020-03/Fact_sheet-Cash_flow_assistance_for_businesses_0.pdf

• All of these payments are tax-free. Practically what this means for those who have accounting systems, you will have to create an income GL code and label it "ATO Tax Free Receipts" and when you are reconciling your GST accounts, you will need to allocate the amounts received as a credit on the Portal to this new GL account. And we will make sure that these amounts are not included in your revenue at year end.
• What I haven't been able to ascertain is what will happen if you have an existing debt on your BAS Account. As I get more information on this, I will provide this.