COVID-19 Stimulus Package for Individuals
In response to the ongoing pandemic, the government has announced plans of an economic stimulus to be rolled out over the next few months. I will outline below as best as I can on how it may affect you. If you would like to know how this affects business, check out my other post HERE
Support for Households
The Government is providing two separate $750 payments to social security, veteran and other income support recipients and eligible concession cardholders.
• The first payment (announced on 12 March 2020) will be available to people who are eligible payment recipients and concession cardholders at any time from 12 March 2020 to 13 April 2020 inclusive.
• The second payment will be available to people who are eligible for payment recipients and concession card holders on 10 July 2020.
A person can be eligible to receive both a first and second support payment. However, they can only receive one $750 payment in each round of payments, even if they qualify in each round of the payments in multiple ways.
To see if you are eligible, please check out this link HERE
Support for Individuals
The Government is temporarily expanding eligibility to income support payments and establishing a new, time-limited Coronavirus supplement to be paid at a rate of $550 per fortnight. This supplement will be paid to both existing and new recipients of the eligible payment categories. These changes will apply for the next six months.
The income support payment categories eligible to receive the Coronavirus supplement are:
• Jobseeker Payment (Formally Newstart)(and all payments progressively transitioning to JobSeeker Payment; those currently receiving Partner Allowance, Widow Allowance, Sickness Allowance, and Wife Pension)
• Youth Allowance Jobseeker
• Parenting Payment (Partnered and Single)
• Farm Household Allowance
• Special Benefit recipients
Anyone who is eligible for the Coronavirus supplement will receive the full rate of the supplement of $550 per fortnight.
For further information, check out this link HERE
Superannuation
Eligible individuals will be able to apply online through myGov to access up to $10,000 of their superannuation before 1 July 2020. They will also be able to access up to a further $10,000 from 1 July 2020. These amounts will be TAX FREE.
To apply for early release you must satisfy any one or more of the following requirements:
• you are unemployed
• you are eligible to receive a job seeker payment, youth allowance for jobseekers, parenting payment (which includes the single and partnered payments), special benefit or farm household allowance
• on or after 1 January 2020 you were made redundant or your working hours were reduced by 20% or more, or if you are a sole trader — your business was suspended or there was a reduction in your turnover of 20% or more.
This needs to be done directly through MyGov. If you have not got an account you will need to create one.
Retirees
The Government is temporarily reducing superannuation minimum drawdown requirements for account-based pensions and similar products by 50% for the 2019-20 and 2020-21 income years. For a full breakdown, check this link HERE
