The JobKeeper payment was announced by the Prime Minister and Treasurer on 30 March 2020 as part of the Australian government’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The announcement stated that the JobKeeper payment was a wage subsidy to businesses that would keep more Australians in jobs through the outbreak.

The scheme was originally legislated to operate for six months from 30 March until 27 September 2020. Following an announcement by the Australian government on 21 July 2020, the scheme was extended for six months to 28 March 2021.

An audit of the JobKeeper scheme is part of phase two of the ANAO’s multi-year strategy that focuses on the effective, efficient, economical and ethical delivery of the Australian government’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Main findings:

• The ATO’s administration of the JobKeeper scheme was effective, except for shortcomings in implementation across parts of the ATO’s compliance program.
• The ATO has been effective in administering the legislative rules for the JobKeeper scheme. The legislative rules relating to JobKeeper entitlement, payment rates and payment timeframes were reflected in the ATO’s administrative systems, processes and practices. The ATO’s approach was to make the application and payment process as simple and fast as possible for eligible entities.
• The ATO’s monitoring and reporting on the operational performance of the JobKeeper scheme was effective. The ATO maintained fit for purpose governance arrangements to monitor scheme performance, regularly monitored performance and provided regular reporting to Treasury and other government entities.