Title: JobSeeker Payment or Small Business Coaching? > Side by side, so you can choose the route that fits. You can’t be on both at once. JobSeeker Payment: Stay on JobSeeker Payment while you plan and start a… Source: https://pontia.xyz/au/compare/jobseeker-vs-sbc/ Checked: 25 September 2026 # JobSeeker Payment or Small Business Coaching? Side by side, so you can choose the route that fits. You can’t be on both at once. RecommendedJobSeeker Payment while you build your business Small Business Coaching and Self-Employment Allowance ### What it is JobSeeker Payment while you build your business Stay on JobSeeker Payment while you plan and start a small business. Your net business profit is set as an annual amount and spread across each fortnight, and your Job Plan still applies. Small Business Coaching and Self-Employment Allowance Part of Self-Employment Assistance: 12 months of mentoring to launch your business, with no mutual obligation requirements. If you were on income support, the Self-Employment Allowance replaces it for up to 39 weeks and isn’t reduced by what the business earns. ### Job search · Before you’re approved JobSeeker Payment while you build your business — Small Business Coaching and Self-Employment Allowance Job search required. Until Small Business Coaching starts, you stay on your payment and your Job Plan. Business Plan Development earns 25 points; Small Business Training replaces job search for up to 8 weeks. ### Job search · While you’re on it JobSeeker Payment while you build your business Job search required. On JobSeeker Payment you agree to a Job Plan and meet it: go to appointments with your employment services provider and, with Workforce Australia, earn your monthly points target, which may include a minimum number of job searches. You must also report to Centrelink every 2 weeks. Small Business Coaching and Self-Employment Allowance No job search required. You have no mutual obligation requirements while in Small Business Coaching. You work on the business. ### Your business work can count JobSeeker Payment while you build your business Self-Employment Assistance earns points: an Exploring Self-Employment Workshop 20, Business Plan Development 25, and Small Business Training replaces your job search requirement for up to 8 weeks. If you already work for yourself, contacting clients, pitching for work or applying for a grant can count as job searches (5 points), and a meeting with a potential client as an interview (25 points). Your business fully meets your requirements only if it passes the sufficient work test: hours = profit ÷ $26.44 minimum wage, and most people need 70 hours a fortnight (30 if you’re 55+, a principal carer or have a partial capacity to work). Small Business Coaching and Self-Employment Allowance — ### If you earn money JobSeeker Payment while you build your business From your own income, $150 a fortnight is free, then your payment drops 50c for each $1 up to $256 and 60c for each $1 above (single principal carers: 40c for each $1 over $150). Business profit is net of the costs Centrelink allows (not donations, borrowing costs, prior-year losses, your own super or instant asset write-offs), set as an annual amount and divided across fortnights. Wages from a job go in your fortnightly report; business income does not. Small Business Coaching and Self-Employment Allowance The Self-Employment Allowance isn’t reduced by what your business earns. Other income (such as a job) is tested every quarter: gross outside income above twice your allowance for the quarter suspends it for the rest of that quarter. If you stay on a higher payment (for example a parent on JobSeeker), Centrelink cuts it dollar for dollar by the allowance and income-tests your business. ### What you must do to keep getting it JobSeeker Payment while you build your business - Report every 2 weeks, even if it’s $0, or your payment stops. Leave business income out of this report. - Tell Centrelink within 14 days when you start a business, or when its income or assets change: Business details form (MOD F) and a Profit and Loss Statement (SU580). - New business: give an estimate first, then an interim profit and loss statement after 3 months and every 3 months, until a tax return covering 6+ months is available. - Give Centrelink your tax returns and financial statements within 14 days of them being prepared. - If the business gets in the way of your job search or activities, you may no longer count as unemployed. - 12 fortnights in a row paid $0 and your payment is suspended or cancelled. Small Business Coaching and Self-Employment Allowance - Get your business plan approved by your provider; they must assess it within 5 business days of your request. It needs market research, a SWOT, management, risk and operational plans, a 2-year cash flow forecast and the hours you’ll work. - Set up a business structure you control, and business insurance. - Be on income support the day before you transfer, and sign the allowance application (bank details) and a TFN declaration no more than 4 weeks before. - Sign the Small Business Coaching Agreement. You can’t have had Small Business Coaching in the past 12 months. - Send a quarterly report within 10 business days after each financial quarter ends, or you can be suspended. - Keep business insurance current; your provider checks it every quarter. - Have at least one mentoring contact every 2 months, and return your provider’s calls and emails. - Stay on track to operate commercially within 12 months: net income of at least the JobSeeker basic rate, about 35 hours a week (fewer with part-time requirements). ### If you take or turn down a job JobSeeker Payment while you build your business You must go to job interviews, accept any offer of suitable paid work and not leave a job without a valid reason. Not meeting your requirements can bring demerits and financial penalties. Small Business Coaching and Self-Employment Allowance A job is outside income: above twice your allowance in a quarter, the allowance is suspended for the rest of that quarter. Tell your provider about changes. | | RecommendedJobSeeker Payment while you build your businessIf you’re 22 or over | Small Business Coaching and Self-Employment Allowance | | --- | --- | --- | | What it is | Stay on JobSeeker Payment while you plan and start a small business. Your net business profit is set as an annual amount and spread across each fortnight, and your Job Plan still applies. | Part of Self-Employment Assistance: 12 months of mentoring to launch your business, with no mutual obligation requirements. If you were on income support, the Self-Employment Allowance replaces it for up to 39 weeks and isn’t reduced by what the business earns. | | Job search · Before you’re approved | — | Job search required. Until Small Business Coaching starts, you stay on your payment and your Job Plan. Business Plan Development earns 25 points; Small Business Training replaces job search for up to 8 weeks. | | Job search · While you’re on it | Job search required. On JobSeeker Payment you agree to a Job Plan and meet it: go to appointments with your employment services provider and, with Workforce Australia, earn your monthly points target, which may include a minimum number of job searches. You must also report to Centrelink every 2 weeks. | No job search required. You have no mutual obligation requirements while in Small Business Coaching. You work on the business. | | Your business work can count | Self-Employment Assistance earns points: an Exploring Self-Employment Workshop 20, Business Plan Development 25, and Small Business Training replaces your job search requirement for up to 8 weeks. If you already work for yourself, contacting clients, pitching for work or applying for a grant can count as job searches (5 points), and a meeting with a potential client as an interview (25 points). Your business fully meets your requirements only if it passes the sufficient work test: hours = profit ÷ $26.44 minimum wage, and most people need 70 hours a fortnight (30 if you’re 55+, a principal carer or have a partial capacity to work). | — | | If you earn money | From your own income, $150 a fortnight is free, then your payment drops 50c for each $1 up to $256 and 60c for each $1 above (single principal carers: 40c for each $1 over $150). Business profit is net of the costs Centrelink allows (not donations, borrowing costs, prior-year losses, your own super or instant asset write-offs), set as an annual amount and divided across fortnights. Wages from a job go in your fortnightly report; business income does not. | The Self-Employment Allowance isn’t reduced by what your business earns. Other income (such as a job) is tested every quarter: gross outside income above twice your allowance for the quarter suspends it for the rest of that quarter. If you stay on a higher payment (for example a parent on JobSeeker), Centrelink cuts it dollar for dollar by the allowance and income-tests your business. | | What you must do to keep getting it | - Report every 2 weeks, even if it’s $0, or your payment stops. Leave business income out of this report. - Tell Centrelink within 14 days when you start a business, or when its income or assets change: Business details form (MOD F) and a Profit and Loss Statement (SU580). - New business: give an estimate first, then an interim profit and loss statement after 3 months and every 3 months, until a tax return covering 6+ months is available. - Give Centrelink your tax returns and financial statements within 14 days of them being prepared. - If the business gets in the way of your job search or activities, you may no longer count as unemployed. - 12 fortnights in a row paid $0 and your payment is suspended or cancelled. | - Get your business plan approved by your provider; they must assess it within 5 business days of your request. It needs market research, a SWOT, management, risk and operational plans, a 2-year cash flow forecast and the hours you’ll work. - Set up a business structure you control, and business insurance. - Be on income support the day before you transfer, and sign the allowance application (bank details) and a TFN declaration no more than 4 weeks before. - Sign the Small Business Coaching Agreement. You can’t have had Small Business Coaching in the past 12 months. - Send a quarterly report within 10 business days after each financial quarter ends, or you can be suspended. - Keep business insurance current; your provider checks it every quarter. - Have at least one mentoring contact every 2 months, and return your provider’s calls and emails. - Stay on track to operate commercially within 12 months: net income of at least the JobSeeker basic rate, about 35 hours a week (fewer with part-time requirements). | | If you take or turn down a job | You must go to job interviews, accept any offer of suitable paid work and not leave a job without a valid reason. Not meeting your requirements can bring demerits and financial penalties. | A job is outside income: above twice your allowance in a quarter, the allowance is suspended for the rest of that quarter. Tell your provider about changes. | JobSeeker Payment while you build your business [Add this to my plan](https://pontia.xyz/au/start/?from=compare&scheme=au-jobseeker&status=have)[What is this, and what do I have to do?](https://pontia.xyz/au/guide/jobseeker/) Small Business Coaching and Self-Employment Allowance [Add this to my plan](https://pontia.xyz/au/start/?from=compare&scheme=au-sbc&status=applying)[What is this, and what do I have to do?](https://pontia.xyz/au/guide/sbc/) This guide explains the official rules in plain words. It isn’t advice about your own claim: your adviser decides. Not a government service. Not financial, tax or legal advice. Cite this page "JobSeeker Payment or Small Business Coaching?", Pontia, https://pontia.xyz/au/compare/jobseeker-vs-sbc/ (updated 25 September 2026) ## Related guides and tools - [Start your business and keep your payment](https://pontia.xyz/au/) - [Mutual obligation points, without the admin](https://pontia.xyz/au/mutual-obligation-points/) - [JobSeeker self-employed calculator](https://pontia.xyz/au/jobseeker-self-employed-calculator/) - [Young and not working yet? 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