Young Aussies cut from JobKeeper payments

The ATO has changed the JobKeeper rules. Image: Getty

Australian students in their final years of high school will be eligible for only $4,500 in JobKeeper payments as the Australian Tax Office (ATO) closes a loophole allowing them to cash in on the economic support payments.

• Also read: How will we pay for coronavirus?

• Also read: Centrelink flaw sees JobSeeker boost delayed for thousands

• Also read: Government told to raise JobSeeker permanently

Previously, 16- and 17-year-old school students were eligible for the $1,500 fortnightly payments, even if they worked only one or two shifts a week.

However, the ATO has now changed the rules so that these workers can access only $4,500 in JobKeeper payments, or six weeks of payments, unless they meet other eligibility criteria.

Now, these young workers can only access payments beyond the $4,500 if they are independent or not in full-time study.

“The benefit of the JobKeeper payment to workers over the age of 16 is justified for those who are financially independent and who require the security provided by participation in the JobKeeper scheme and the maintenance of the working relationship that it affords,” Treasurer Josh Frydenberg said in April.

“The [updated] rules will provide that full time students who are 17 years old and younger, and who are not financially independent, are not eligible for the JobKeeper Payment.”

• Also read: $126,000 fines in store for ‘dodgy’ JobKeeper bosses

• Also read: ‘Swift backdown’: Major change to JobKeeper welcomed

• Also read: Fine print: Essential opt-in step to receiving JobKeeper payment

The ATO has now confirmed that businesses that have already made the payments to workers now deemed ineligible will not have their payments from the government affected.

The new rules mean that eligible employers who have already begun claiming and making the payments can continue until 11 May, regardless of whether the teen is independent or studying.

That means teen workers can receive up to $4,500 in JobKeeper payments.

Beyond that, however, teenagers must satisfy the other rules in order to be eligible.

Workers who have already received the payments will not be required to repay them.

Follow Yahoo Finance Australia on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn.

Yahoo Finance Breakfast Club