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COVID-19 measures and support

Last updated 6 March 2023

Specific measures and support are available for individuals impacted by COVID-19.

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Early release of superannuation

Individuals financially affected by COVID-19 can access some of their superannuation early. You will not need to pay tax on these released amounts and will not need to include it in their tax return.

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Eligible Australian and New Zealand citizens and permanent residents are able to apply to access up to:

  • $10,000 of their super until 30 June 2020
  • A further $10,000 from 1 July 2020 until 24 September 2020. However the government has announced they will extend the application period to 31 December 2020.

Eligible temporary residents were able to access up to $10,000 of their super until 30 June 2020.

To learn more, see Early access to your super.

Working from home

As a result of COVID-19, we understand you may have worked from home and incurred expenses you can claim at Tax Time.

We understand tracking these expenses can be challenging. So, we will accept a temporary simplified method (known as the ‘shortcut method’) of calculating additional running expenses from 1 March 2020 until 30 June 2020.

Using the shortcut method, at Other work-related expenses, you can claim a deduction of 80 cents per hour for each hour you work from home during the period 1 March 2020 to 30 June 2020. Anyone working from home in this period can use this shortcut method. The shortcut method can be used by multiple people working from home in the same house.

You can choose this rate if you:

  • worked from home to fulfil your employment duties and not just carrying out minimal tasks such as occasionally checking emails or taking calls
  • incurred additional deductible running expenses as a result of working from home.

If you use the shortcut method, you can't claim any other expenses for working from home.

You must keep a record of the number of hours you have worked from home. This could be a timesheet, roster, diary or documents that set out the hours you worked from home.

To learn more about claiming a deduction for working from home on your myTax return, see Other work-related expenses.

The shortcut method initially applied from 1 March 2020 to 30 June 2020, however it can now be applied up until 30 June 2021. This means you will be able to use the shortcut method to calculate your working from home expenses for the period from:

  • 1 March 2020 to 30 June 2020 in the 2019–20 income year, and
  • 1 July 2020 to 30 June 2021 in the 2020–21 income year.

To learn more, see Working from home during COVID-19.

JobKeeper Payment

The JobKeeper payment supports businesses significantly affected by coronavirus (COVID-19) by helping with the costs of their employees’ wages, so more Australians can retain their jobs and continue to earn an income during COVID-19.

Your employer would have notified you if they claimed the JobKeeper fortnightly payment of $1,500 on your behalf. You would have received the payment from your employer. Tax would have been withheld from the payment at your marginal tax rate so you may have received less than $1,500 in your bank account.

If you’re an employee who has received JobKeeper payments, they will be included in your income statement or payment summary as either salary and wages or as an allowance, depending on your circumstances.

We treat your JobKeeper payments the same as your usual payments from your employer. This means:

  • we will pre-fill your return with available income statement or payment summary information reported to us by your employer
  • you must check them, and add any payments from your employer you received that have not pre-filled
  • you pay tax on them at your normal marginal tax rate.

To learn more about showing these payments on your myTax return, see Salary, wages, allowances, tips, bonuses.

If you’re a sole trader who has received JobKeeper payments, you need to include the payments as business income in your individual tax return, see Assessable government industry payments in Net income or loss from business.

To learn more, see JobKeeper Payment – Employees.

Tax on employment payments

If you took leave, were stood down or lost your job because of COVID-19, there are different tax consequences for payments you may have received from your employer.

Leave or temporary stand down

If you took leave or were temporarily stood down, your employer may have paid you regular payments or made a one-off payment. To learn more, see Leave or temporary stand down.

We treat them the same as your usual payments from your employer. This means:

  • we will pre-fill your return with available information reported to us by your employer
  • you must check them, and add any payments from your employer you received that have not pre-filled
  • you pay tax on them at your normal marginal tax rate.

This treatment applies regardless of whether the payments are funded by the JobKeeper Payment scheme.

To learn more about showing these payments on your myTax return, see Salary, wages, allowances, tips, bonuses.

If your employment has been terminated

If your employment was terminated, you may receive payments from your employer. The tax rate depends on the type of the payment.

To learn more, see:

See also

We will pre-fill your return with available information reported to us by your employer. Check them, and add any payments you received that have not pre-filled.

To learn more about showing:

Services Australia payments

If you receive an income support payment from Services Australia, you may have received additional financial help.

Economic Support Payment

You may have received a 2020 Economic Support PaymentExternal Link. These payments are not taxable. You don't need to include this payment as income on your tax return.

See also

Coronavirus Supplement

You may have received a Coronavirus SupplementExternal Link. These payments are taxable, and we treat them the same as your usual income support payments from Services Australia. This means:

  • we will pre-fill your return with available information reported to us by Services Australia
  • you must check them, and add any taxable payments from Services Australia you received that have not pre-filled
  • in myTax, the Taxable amount field should include the total of your income support payment plus the Coronavirus Supplement
  • you may be entitled to a tax offset on this income. Tax offsets reduce the amount of tax you have to pay.

To learn more about showing these payments on your myTax return, see:

COVID-19 and residential rental properties

Due to COVID-19, some circumstances may affect tax outcomes for residential rental properties, including:

  • when tenants can't pay
  • back-paid rent
  • insurance from lost income
  • reduced demand for your short-term rental accommodation.

To learn more, see Residential rental property.

To learn more about showing rental income and expenses on your myTax return, see Rent.

Support for eligible businesses

Increasing the instant asset write-off for eligible businesses

From 12 March 2020 until 30 June 2020, the instant asset write-off:

  • threshold is $150,000 (up from $30,000)
  • eligibility range covers businesses with an aggregated turnover of less than $500 million (up from $50 million).

See also

To learn more about showing depreciation expenses on your myTax return, see Net income of loss from business.

Backing business investment

Businesses with an aggregated turnover of less than $500 million are able to accelerate their depreciation deductions on the purchase of certain new depreciable assets.

This applies to eligible assets acquired and first used or installed ready for use from 12 March 2020 until 30 June 2021.

See also

To learn more about showing depreciation expenses on your myTax return, see Net income of loss from business.

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