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Accountants are still trying to secure a lockdown deal with the Victorian government to support more than 500,000 extra Victorian employees expected to qualify for JobKeeper under recently expanded eligibility changes.
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Accountants push for lockdown deal despite growing silence
12 August 2020
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Accountants Daily understands that the Victorian government has yet to provide a response to the major accounting and bookkeeping professional bodies, who had appealed for flexibility for the profession to continue to assist business clients in person, and travel to their own offices to retrieve mail and other essential documents.
The silence comes despite the Victorian government displaying a willingness to tweak its restrictions, having now released a third version of permitted workplaces since it first introduced the list a week ago.
New exemptions for a range of different industries — including agriculture, telecommunications and education — have been released and are now in effect.
With Treasurer Josh Frydenberg having announced new eligibility changes to the JobKeeper program that is expected to see an additional 530,000 Victorians receive the wage subsidy, the Institute of Public Accountants’ Tony Greco believes there is even more reason for the accounting profession to be classified as a permitted industry.
“We’re asking for special treatment and we understand that, and we understand you can’t do that willy-nilly, but then again when the federal Treasurer has opened up the eligibility, then more businesses will need help,” Mr Greco said.
“We expect a lot of new business enrolments into JobKeeper associated with stage 4 restrictions, and tax agents should be out there helping impacted businesses obtaining the necessary employee declarations and helping clients access the necessary cash to continue funding payroll.
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“Stood-down workers after 1 July are now eligible for JobKeeper, so employers can re-engage with them and provide JobKeeper support as the operation date has moved from 1 March.”
Mr Greco also believes there is merit in the government considering the option of requiring professionals to use their Tax Practitioners Board credentials as a declaration to travel to work.
“Tax agents can flash their Tax Practitioners Board registration credentials similar to healthcare workers to enable them to visit their office or client to do whatever is necessary to help their clients,” Mr Greco said.
“It’s a statutory designation which comes with onerous ethical obligations, so it’s not as if we are trying to undermine the health emergency that Victoria is experiencing which is very real and concerning.
“It is a health emergency and we want to respect the intent behind the lockdown, but at the same time, it seems a bit odd that you can go to the post office but you can’t go to the office to pick up the mail, and that’s frustrating a lot of people.”
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