ASIC issues new JobKeeper guidance

The new obligations also call for listed entities to declare the total amount of JobKeeper payments the entity and its subsidiaries received in a Jobkeeper fortnight that ended in the financial year; and whether or not the entity or its subsidiaries made voluntary repayments of JobKeeper payments, and the total amount of those repayments if they did.

In its new guidance, released to the market on Friday (15 October), ASIC clarified that listed entities that have lodged their annual financial reports for the relevant financial year with ASIC on or before 14 September 2021 will have until 13 November 2021 to notify the market.

“Listed entities that lodge their annual financial reports after 14 September 2021 will have 60 days from the date their annual financial report was lodged with ASIC to notify the market,” it said, adding that all listed entities “must ensure information that is disclosed about Jobkeeper payments is up-to-date and accurate.”

“This information will then be published by ASIC in a consolidated report.”

The new ASIC guidance comes after the release of a review into JobKeeper on Monday (11 October), in which Treasury found that $27 billion of the $89 billion wage subsidy was paid out to businesses that didn’t qualify.

The Treasury review found that in the June quarter of 2020, $11.4 billion was paid to businesses that didn’t record their forecast reduction in turnover compared to the year before, before a further $15.6 billion was paid out in the September quarter.

Of the full $27 billion that was paid to businesses that didn’t qualify, $13.8 billion was pocketed by businesses that instead went on to record boosted profits, while another $13.2 billion went to businesses that recorded softer reductions in turnover.