The following resources will generally be required to calculate entitlements:
- Relevant employment records
- Relevant legislation, award, statutory agreement and/or written contract of employment
- Refer to the GEERS Operational Arrangements in relation to matters affecting employee eligibility for GEERS
- If you require assistance in identifying and interpreting employees’ entitlements, please consult:
- Fair Work Infoline on 13 13 94
- Or you can contact the Case Manager for further assistance.
GEERS spreadsheet
The CM will provide you with a GEERS spreadsheet to record the eligible employee entitlements data. This includes:
- employment and termination details
- amounts owing at time of termination
- payments made since employees were terminated.
Please notify the Department as soon as possible if you are unable to obtain this information.
Verification Statement
Once the Department has received the completed GEERS Spreadsheet, the CM will ask you to sign a Verification Statement.
- The Statement confirms the employment details and the entitlements of employees and requests you to verify that the calculations are based on valid records.
- Please complete and return the Verification Statement to the Department.
GEERS Distribution Agreement
At the same time you will be asked to complete and return a Distribution Agreement relating to the payment of GEERS advances. The Distribution Agreement sets out:
- payment method and personal particulars
- details of the bank account to be used
- the Commonwealth’s recovery rights
- A certification that the company in question does not have enough funds to pay the entitlements that GEERS intends to cover
Once the completed Agreement is returned to the Department, GEERS advances will be forwarded to you with the Payment Summary.
Payments
Following the verification of entitlements, the Department will send you a Payment Summary and the GEERS advances. Please note that:
- GEERS advances can only be used for the purpose for which they have been made available
- In distributing GEERS advances, the Insolvency Practitioner must comply with all legal requirements relating to the payment of employee entitlements, such as deducting income tax or HECS prior to distribution to employees
- GEERS advances must be distributed, in accordance with the Payment Summary, within 14 days of receipt
Acquittal and overpayment
The Department will send you an Acquittal and Overpayment Information spreadsheet and Statement of Acquittal with the Payment Summary. Please return the spreadsheet and the statement to the Department within one month of receiving the funds.
- Any amount that is not distributed must be returned to the Department within one month of the date of the advance
- Please return the completed Acquittal and Overpayment spreadsheet and the Statement of Acquittal by both: