ActivePaper Archive Partners forced to split wage subsidy - The Age, 5/25/2020

Partners forced to split wage subsidy

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Photographers Fiona Gohari and Bobby Aazami can get only one JobKeeper payment. Photo: James Brickwood

More than a quarter of a million small businesses are not fully eligible for JobKeeper because the payment is restricted to one partner in a partnership.

The federal government structured it this way despite lobbying from the accounting industry to extend it to at least two partners to cover the vast majority of business partnerships.

The decision affects partnerships such as Fiona Gohari and Bobby Aazami from Sydney’s Lane Cove, who are married and also work as wedding photographers in their business, Fiona + Bobby Photography.

‘‘When we heard about JobKeeper, we thought it was just such an amazing thing but there was a part of us that felt like maybe it’s too good to be true,’’ Ms Gohari said. ‘‘When we found out that only one of us qualifies, it just didn’t make sense and it was really disappointing.’’

The wedding industry has ground to a halt because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Ms Gohari said all their bookings had either been cancelled or postponed, so income had dropped to zero and would be halved for the financial year.

If they were both sole traders, they would each receive the JobKeeper payment of $1500 a fortnight. If they had set up a company and worked as employees, they would also both qualify. But because they have a partnership, the business can only receive JobKeeper for one partner.

Ms Gohari has applied for JobSeeker – the unemployment benefit temporarily raised to a base rate of $1100 a fortnight – but she is still waiting for the payments to kick in. It will be reduced because of her husband’s JobKeeper income.

Partnerships are common in other industries, such as legal and accountancy practices, and business partners are not always married. Figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics show the vast majority are microbusinesses with less than $2 million a year in revenue.

Senior tax advocate Susan Franks, from Chartered Accountants Australia & New Zealand, said the association had lobbied for JobKeeper to be extended to more than one partner.

‘‘While the government was formulating its JobKeeper policy, [we] made a number of informal submissions,’’ Ms Franks said.

Treasurer Josh Frydenberg would not comment.