Are you ready for STP yet?

STP Reporting

STP (Single Touch Payroll) is not too far away now for those employers with fewer than 20 employees. The Australian government is forging ahead with plans for employers to report STP come 1 July 2019.

“Treasury Laws Amendment (2018 Measures No. 4) Bill 2018” has been passed by the House of Representatives and the Senate – and although it needs to go back to the House of Representatives, it is expected to become a reality soon”. This bill is designed to encompass numerous things all at once, specifically around superannuation reporting, however the pinnacle is STP reporting.

STP reporting is already in place for businesses with 20 plus employees this financial year that qualified, whereas smaller businesses have some grace time and will therefore be set to begin reporting come 1 July 2019 once the law has been passed.

So you may well be asking yourself – What exactly is STP?

STP is a new payroll reporting requirement. Therefore, all salaries and wages, PAYG withholding, and superannuation information you provide to employees will be electronically reported directly to the ATO from your compliant payroll accounting software with each pay run.

STP

How do I get started?

  1. Ensure you have STP compliant software. If you need help with upgrading your software or are requiring STP compliant software please contact us to help guide you.  You will need to link all your payroll categories to the ATO STP reporting categories in your software.
  2. Review all your employee payroll information is correct in your software.
  3. Connect your software to the ATO using your Auskey.
  4. Nominate the person who will be making the declaration when reporting STP.

Once you are setup for STP the following changes will apply:STP

  • With each pay run employers will be required to report their wages & Salaries, PAYG withholding and superannuation information directly from your payroll solution electronically to the ATO. This will include each employees YTD totals.
  • Payment Summaries will no longer be issued to employees as the information will be available to them through their myGov account.
  • Employees will need to create a myGov account in order to access their information via this online service.

Overall, your payroll processing remains the same with the added task of reporting the information electronically directly to the ATO.

Are you wondering why STP?

  • The ATO want to have greater visibility of employers to ensure they pay their PAYGW and SGC super obligations.
  • The ATO will be able to cross check superannuation payment information provided by employers and super funds much more accurately as well.
  • The benefits to employers is also huge as it will save you time at the end of the financial year, as you will no longer be required to issue group certificates to your employees.
  • It will in fact make life so much easier for you and your employees.

Need help getting setup please do not hesitate to contact us