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The ATO will now be allowed to share protected JobKeeper-related information with Fair Work after new legislation passed both houses on Tuesday.
ATO given green light to share JobKeeper data
26 August 2020
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7 minute read
Treasury Laws Amendment (2020 Measures No. 2) Bill 2020 was passed by both houses on Tuesday, and allows a tax officer to disclose protected information relating to the JobKeeper scheme to the Fair Work Commission and the Fair Work Ombudsman.
This will allow Fair Work to appropriately address issues concerning compliance with obligations under the Fair Work Act.
Previously, the Commissioner of Taxation could only disclose to the Fair Work Ombudsman the fact that an entity has not complied with a taxation law or is reasonably suspected of such non-compliance.
The new sharing of information between the ATO and Fair Work will not be restricted to the duration of the JobKeeper scheme to provide the regulators with flexibility to resolve disputes, investigations and other outstanding matters that may continue after all payments have been made.
31 August deadline approaches
The passage of the new measure comes after the JobKeeper reference date was recently changed from 1 March to 1 July.
Under the “one in, all in” principle, employers will need to ensure all new eligible employees are identified and covered by the JobKeeper scheme from 3 August, the start of fortnight 10.
This could include employees hired after 1 March and casuals who did not meet the definition of a long-term casual employee by 1 March but have since become long-term casual employees by 1 July.
It will also cover employees who did not qualify on 1 March due to their age or visa status but have since become 16 or 17 and meet the independence and study conditions, or 18 years, or obtained the necessary visa.
The ATO has provided employers until 31 August 2020 to meet the wage condition for all new eligible employees included in the Jobkeeper scheme under the 1 July eligibility test.
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