Coronavirus: Questions on the $130b JobKeeper program answered

The payment must be passed on in full, before tax, to each employee each fortnight.

JobKeeper is a flat $1500 per fortnight payment for each worker, for six months.

The scheme has commenced and eligible businesses can begin making JobKeeper payments immediately. Funds to eligible businesses will begin to flow from the first week of May, paid as monthly arrears from the Australian Taxation Office.

All full-time and part-time workers, and casual employees who have been with their employer for at least the previous 12 months, are eligible for the payment.

This includes Australian residents, New Zealanders working in Australia on 444 visas and migrants who are eligible for JobSeeker or Youth Allowance (Other) payments.

The government is still considering whether workers on other visas will be included.

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Companies, partnerships, trusts, sole traders and not-for-profits (including charities) are eligible.

To be eligible, businesses with an annual turnover of less than $1 billion must have a self-assessed downturn in revenue of at least 30 per cent since the beginning of March.

Businesses with an annual turnover of more than $1 billion must demonstrate a fall in revenue of 50 per cent or more.

Businesses subject to the Major Bank Levy are not eligible.

Workers who have been stood down since March 1 are eligible under the JobKeeper scheme. They are advised to contact their employer to discuss reinstatement.

If your former employer is eligible and has registered for the JobKeeper scheme, you can join the arrangement. You cannot receive JobKeeper and JobSeeker payments simultaneously.

Every employee of an eligible employer must receive at least $1500 a fortnight, before tax. Any additional pay must be made up by the employer.

You will be paid a minimum of $1500 every two weeks.

No. It does not include the Superannuation Guarantee Levy. That remains the responsibility of your employer.

If you were on the books of your employer as of March 1, and they meet the business eligibility criteria, they can register for the JobKeeper scheme and reinstate you to receive the $1500 a fortnight payment.

As long as you were a full-time or part-time employee, or worked for one of your employers as a casual for at least the previous 12 months, and they are eligible, then you can receive the payment.

But you can only receive the payment from one employer.

Yes. Sole traders and the self-employed are eligible.

Workers do not have to apply.

The JobKeeper scheme is administered by the Australian Taxation Office and the payments are made to the employer, who passes them on via their normal payroll operations. Eligible businesses can register their interest and apply for payment online at ato.gov.au.

Workers who have been stood down or dismissed since March 1 are advised to contact their employer to check whether they are eligible and are registering for the scheme.

The federal government says the scheme will cost $130 billion over six months, and will support about six million workers.

Yes. Legislation is being drawn up this week and Prime Minister Scott Morrison has indicated Parliament will be recalled for a scaled-down sitting next week to pass the new laws.