JobKeeper website closed for maintenance on final day to apply

On the final day companies could apply for the government’s under-fire JobKeeper payments, the site was down “for maintenance”.

Employers have accused the Morrison Government of a fresh JobKeeper bungle after it closed down the main website to apply “for maintenance” on the final day to lodge applications.

Less than a fortnight after the Treasurer Josh Frydenberg revealed a stunning $60 billion underspend in the program, some companies are worried they could miss out after the scheme closed early.

More than a million casuals were already excluded from the scheme, that was originally forecast to cost $130 billion but has now been revised down to $70 billion before it ends on September 27.

The wage subsidy pays employers a $1500 a fortnight wage subsidy to eligible employees including casuals but only if they have completed more than 12 months of service at the workplace.

Businesses had until Sunday, May 31 to be able to apply online with the Australian Taxation Office to complete their JobKeeper application.

But Labor’s treasury spokesman Jim Chalmers told news.com.au concerned employers had contacted his office on Monday to complain they had logged in on Sunday only to find the application portal was closed.

Dr Chalmers said the original material on the ATO website did not specify a time on May 31 for the cut off and some employers had assumed they would be able to lodge by midnight

“Another day, another shambles from a Treasurer who just can’t stop seriously stuffing up this key program,’’ Dr Chalmers said.

“Two weeks ago the Treasurer was forced to admit that he had made the biggest budget blunder in Australian history with JobKeeper and now he’s bungled it again, cutting off even more deserving Australians from support they desperately need.”

“This just shows that you can’t trust a hopeless government with a good idea like JobKeeper.”

Companies did not want to discuss the matter publicly fearing it might stop the ATO from resolving the matter privately and extending the wage subsidies to the employers locked out of the website on Sunday night.

The Australian Taxation Office said it had communicated an updated 6pm deadline to lodge applications on the website ato.gov.au and insisted it was communicated to businesses, tax agents and BAS agents by the ATO in the last week.

Shadow Treasurer Jim Chalmers has received complaints about the site being down.

But one employer complained to Dr Chalmers’ office that it had also been down and non-operational on Sunday hours before that new cut off in the critical final hours before the deadline for applications closed.

“If a business considers themselves eligible for JobKeeper, they can contact the ATO on 13 28 66 to discuss their individual circumstances. The ATO will assist them in completing their JobKeeper application within the coming days,’’ an ATO spokesman said.

The ATO said it had communicated the new 6pm, May 31 timeframe through a range of channels including the ATO website (including on their top calls about COVID-19, the ATO community forum, text messages to employers and agents and notifications on the Business Portal and the Online Services for Agents homepage).

The message, titled ‘Change to weekend maintenance times (31 May 2020)’ noted online services for agents, would be unavailable from Sun 31 May 6.00pm to Mon 1 June 9.00am AEST to implement important JobKeeper updates.

The Prime Minister is attending a meeting of the budget expenditure review committee today to finalise a new stimulus package for the construction industry including cash grants for new home builds.

The Morrison Government is also considering extending some assistance for major renovations but homeowners would be required to more than match the taxpayer investment which would appear to rule out smaller projects.

The Treasurer and PM have also flagged more support for the arts industry after thousands of artists who rely on casual and contract work were locked out of JobKeeper.

“Well, we’re still working on those things at the moment. But one of the challenges is going to be that the entertainment sector will find it difficult to get capital moving again because they’ve had to draw down on it so significantly and getting started again will be hard. So we’re looking at issues like that. We’re looking into the film industry and we want to ensure that we’re getting those sectors of the economy moving again as soon as they can,’’ Mr Morrison said yesterday.