COVID-19 impacts on the Australian economy & housing market

Well as long as on paper you have a 30% revenue loss in the month then no questions are asked full stop.I know this because I know companies that are doing it.

 

IIRC not the case. ATO are stating they will audit if suspicious, including the bedmaker reportedly under investigation over an $11m JK claim.
You keep on banging the same drum in multiple threads... we get it.
If you're that upset about it, and you know some companies where rorting is occurring then I hope you've tipped off the ATO like the other 2609 tips off prior to May 20.
ATO to investigate $11m JobKeeper claim

 

That's ok I understand that you don't get it.
Problem with it is, is no one is breaking the law.
It's a flaw in the system - bleeding taxpayers millions and millions
But Hey who cares

 

But it is against the law - that's the whole point.
I'm not sure the ATO could make it any clearer...
ATO zeroes in on COVID-19 fraud
And if you break the law or are suspected of breaking the law then you risk being audited, found out and punished.
I think i get it.

 

So going on holidays is against the law?

 

No, going on holiday is not against the law. But I suspect that most businesses can't or don't just go on holidays. Maybe an indivdual tradie working as a sole trader - but a business with more employees? Or with regular repeat customers? I don't think that's the norm.
I own and work in a small business with 22 employees and my business claims the JK allowance.
Our turnover was down by over 50% at the time of registering.
I had to make a decison to stay open or close.
I chose to stay open so as to not lose my staff and customers.
I guess I could have closed operations and staff wouldn't have had to work, and could have been recipients of the JK allowance (not sure). But all my customers would have gone elsewhere. This would have been pretty short sighted - especially since I would not be receiving the financial benefit of JK - the staff would.
The only way a business benefits financially from JK is if they have productive work for registered employees which therefore saves the business payroll costs. But only if you've suffered a 30% fall in turnover or more.
Everything else is either just cooking the books, an outlier or business suicide IMO.

 

Exactly, businesses that never stopped working during this Pandemic. So easy for these guys to get it, whether you want to believe it or not. Just like the best lawyers get guilty criminals off there charges, this probably doesn't happen either ay? The best accountants can easily show a 30% decrease in revenue, piece of cake.

I'm glad you got the help you deserve, 50% revenue loss would be nearly impossible to recover from. Do you mind if ask what industry you are in and if it has picked back up after the easing of restrictions?

 

Yes, but those accountants/businesses are cooking the books and run the risk of audit and punishment for breaking the law.
Yes, its easy to break most laws - but its still breaking the law and you run the risk of having to face the consequences.

Im pretty sure that my business didn't deserve the assistance any more than one that was 29% down or 100% down. I'll just take what is legally available if needed, and try to put it to good use.

The reduction in payroll costs allowed us to keep a number of international temp visa holders on staff that have no financial support - but that's a whole other discussion.

Im in dry cleaning and things have steadily improved - only minus 20% now. I'm lucky as our business model is a little bit different to most in our industry. Most are still down 40-80%. In Melbourne many can be open due to their status as essential - but with little to no customers - what to do?

 

Thanks for the honesty. Hopefully it stays only 20% down and you wont need jobkeeper after September

As for big businesses cooking the books that is hilarious

 

I didn't say big or small, nor did I say that they do or don't do it. What I was trying to say is that just because most laws are easy to break - doesn't mean that everybody is breaking them, most aren't. Those that do - run a risk, no matter how big or small the business.

Both my outsourced bookeeper and tax accountant sent round robin emails to their clients (our business was a recipient) detailing the JK scheme and warning against manipulating income to become eligible and the consequences of doing so. I would suggest this is more the norm.
I'm sure there are exceptions to the norm.
If you have proof (nay - even suspicions) of rorting - call the ATO tipline. It will do much more good than continuously banging on about it on here.

Thanks for your best wishes - if we stay 20% down, we wont qualify for further assistance after Sept as things currently stand. I too am hoping we won't need it.

 

Thanks Y-man - we'll get there - just gotta keep throwing punches.
Feel for your industry - there's one that's currently doing it hard - but it could be argued that they'd had a good run and been the recipient of favourable govt policy for a while. Doesn't make it any easier on the staff though.
Best of luck with your AREIT holdings too - I have no holdings, have always feared a repeat of GFC style declines/issues - how are areits holding up in general this time around?

 

Thats right, but I was talking soley about big businesses doing this at the start of the discussion.

Then you replied about those businesses as above so I took that as you talking about big business?

Good luck with it all anyhow, we may have different views on things but they are only for the good of the country.

 

That is so well written @Simon Hampel.

 

Eviction moratorium extended to end of March 2021 for Victoria.

Eww

 

The landlords could have sold their property(s) in this time. Rent prices will reduce (as they are) to match what the market can afford. The winners out of this is housing affordability, prices will come down. Those investors that haven’t over leveraged will have the opportunity to purchase at a lower price. Why should the federal government (the tax payer) subsidise landlord investments?

 

Because longer term, once all of this settles down, the government needs private landlords. Or it has to provide a lot more public housing.