Businesses that received the initial cash flow boosts as a part of the COVID-19 stimulus measures are in line for additional payments for the June to September quarter. Generally, the additional amount businesses will receive will be equal to the total amount that they initially received and will be split evenly between the lodged activity statements. However, if you've made adjustments or revised your activity statements after lodgement, the amount of additional cash flow boost payments you receive may be different.

If your business is one of many that received the initial cash flow boosts as a part of the government's COVID-19 economic stimulus measures, prepare for more help coming your way. When you lodge your monthly or quarterly activity statements for June to September 2020, your business will receive additional cash flow boosts.

The additional amount you receive will be equal to the total amount of initial cash flow boosts that you previously received and will be split evenly between your lodged activity statements. Therefore, quarterly payers will generally receive 50% of their total initial cash flow boost for each activity statement, while monthly payers will generally receive 25% of their total initial cash flow boost for each activity statement.

For example, if your business lodges activity statements quarterly and you received an initial cash flow boost of $10,000, when you lodge your June to September 2020 quarterly activity statements your business will receive $5,000 for the quarter ended June 2020 and $5,000 for the quarter ended September 2020. Although, if your business lodges monthly activity statements, you will receive $2,500 for each month of June, July, August and September 2020.

Beware however if your business has revised activity statements after lodgement, it may affect the amount of cash flow boost you may receive. You can check your statement of account through ATO online services for details on how your account may have been adjusted to work out how it will affect your cash flow boost payment.

Remember, if you have not made payments to employees subject to withholding, you need to report zero for PAYG withholding when lodging your activity statements to ensure that you receive the additional cash flow boost payments for June to September 2020. It is important that you do not cancel PAYG withholding registration until you have received the additional cash flow boosts.

If your business does not automatically receive the cash flow boost, it does not necessarily mean your business is not eligible, it may just mean the ATO requires additional information.

For example, to be eligible for the cash flow boost, your business will need to be a small to medium business with an annual turnover of less than $50m. However, the ATO has discretion to deem a business eligible if:

you're a new business that haven't previously lodged an income tax return because you started business on or after 1 July 2019; or
you can demonstrate that you expect your business to be a small or medium business entity with a turnover of less than $50m in the 2019-20 year even though your aggregate turnover for prior years was more than $50m.

To take advantage of the additional cash flow boost payments, make sure you lodge your activity statements by the due dates below:

For quarterly lodgers, the due dates are:
- 28 July 2020 for the April-June 2020 quarter; and
- 28 October 2020 for the July-September 2020 quarter.
For monthly lodgers, the due dates are:
- 21 July 2020 for June 2020;
- 21 August 2020 for July 2020;
- 21 September 2020 for August 2020; and
- 21 October 2020 for September 2020.

Need help?

If you're not sure whether your business will receive the cash flow boost payment, we can help you figure it out. We can also help you lodge your activity statements on time in order to receive the additional payments to help with the cash flow. Contact us today for expert service and advice.