When the Morrison Government’s $1500 a fortnight JobKeeper wage subsidy was first announced, we argued (among other things) that it would be rorted by businesses manipulating the rules to delay the timing of sales to ensure they qualify.
Two months on and ATO data has revealed that its JobKeeper hotline had received 3,338 calls about alleged abuse of the scheme by the end of May.
Michael Croker of Chartered Accountants Australia and New Zealand concedes that some companies have manipulated their turnover figures and changed their billing schedules to take advantage of the wage subsidy scheme. Other rorts include claiming the subsidy even though a company had not been in business prior to the pandemic or using an employee’s tax file number on multiple JobKeeper applications:
