Apprentices and trainees, ongoing government data-matching

Apprentices and trainees, ongoing government data-matching. Apprentices and trainees. Businesses with an apprentice or trainee beware. The Department of Education, Skills and Employment has commenced a new ongoing data-matching program in relation to the Supporting Apprentices and Trainees (SAT) measure.

The Department is seeking to confirm the eligibility of employers receiving the subsidy as well as stamp out any potential double-dipping of government assistance. It is estimated that around 117,000 apprentices and trainees and more than 70,000 employers will be affected.

The Department of Education, Skills and Employment (DESE) has commenced a new data matching program with the ATO in relation to the Supporting Apprentices and Trainees (SAT) measure. Broadly, the program seeks to confirm eligibility and weed out any potential double-dipping of government benefits.

To be eligible under SAT, an apprentice must have been in an Australian Apprenticeship with a small business as at 1 March 2020. The program has since been expanded to include medium-sized businesses who had an apprentice in place on 1 July 2020. Employers of any size who re-engage an eligible out of trade apprentice are also eligible to claim the SAT wage subsidy. However, there are restrictions on when an employer can claim SAT for an eligible apprentice.

Eligible employers under SAT can apply for a wage subsidy of 50% of the apprentices or trainees wage paid until 31 March 2021.

The objective of the program, as stated by the DESE, is to confirm that an employer is eligible to receive the SAT subsidy and validate information provided by the employer. It also seeks to confirm that employers are not claiming both the SAT and JobKeeper at the same time for the same employee.

It is estimated that data relating to around 117,000 apprentices and trainees and more than 70,000 employers will be transferred between DESE and the ATO. While the first data-matching activity is intended to be conducted as soon as possible, it is expected the program will be ongoing with data transfer to occur at regular intervals as required over the life of the measure.

The data-matching will occur in several steps, the DESE will first provide the ATO with information relating to employers and apprentices that have been extracted from their systems including the Training and Youth Internet Management System (TYIMS) and SmartForms completed by employers. The ATO will then match the apprentices and trainees information against their own data holdings and provide information on employers that claimed eligibility for SAT as a small business or claimed the SAT wage subsidy and the JobKeeper at the same time for the same individual.

To avoid mistakes, the ATO will be using sophisticated identity matching techniques which uses multiple details to obtain an identity match (eg name, address, date of birth). Additional manual processes may also be undertaken where a high confidence identity match does not occur. This involves an ATO officer reviewing and comparing third party data identity elements against ATO information on a one-on-one basis, seeking sufficient common indicators to allow confirmation (or not) of an individual’s or business’ identity.

DESE will then use the information sourced from the ATO to verify its own data holding, and a manual process will be undertaken by a DESE officer to compare the information. All discrepancies and anomalies will be dealt with on a case-by-case basis.

In instances where the DESE detects a discrepancy or an anomaly that requires verification, it will contact the business and provide them with an opportunity to verify the accuracy of the information on which the eligibility was based. According to the DESE, businesses will be given at least 28 days to respond and individual circumstances, if any, will be taken into consideration.

Does your business have any apprentices and/or trainees?

If your business has an apprentice or trainee registered through the DESE, your data will be matched in this program. To ensure you don’t get approached by the DESE or the ATO, we can help you confirm eligibility and sort out any supporting information.

Hunter Partners are Accountants, Tax Agents and Financial Planners. We can assist you with all aspect of your accounting, tax and financial planning requirements, call Hunter Partners on (07) 4723-1223.