The ATO was talking about Single Touch Payroll (STP) as early as 2014, but until now it hasn’t been made clear what STP really is, and how it will affect employers. To help understand what it is, how it’ll impact you, and how Easy Payroll can help, we’ve put together the following resource guide.
Single Touch Payroll is a change in the way employers will report their PAYG and super contribution information to the ATO. Employers will now be required to report PAYG and super after a “payroll event” – essentially after payroll has been processed – rather than previously reporting monthly or quarterly. In addition to PAYG, super contributions must now be reported, which previously wasn’t required.
The main benefits for employers with Single Touch Payroll is that it will streamline the process of reporting to the ATO by being able to submit payroll information upon completion.
By doing this the ATO will be able to pre-fill the BAS (W1 and W2) for employers, eliminating potential errors and double handling. Additionally, the need to generate and distribute payment summaries may be eliminated for employees as this information will be made available online via myGov.
Finally, the ATO may allow employers to collect tax file declaration and super choice information online via myGov when onboarding new employees.
For employers with 20 or more employees, single touch reporting will be mandatory from July 1 2018.
For employers with 19 or less employees, it is expected that single touch reporting will be mandatory from July 1 2019
It’s important to note that you need to do a “headcount” on April 1 2018 to determine if you have 20 or more employees. Even if you drop under 20 employees by July 1, you may still be considered a substantial employer and be required to use STP reporting, so it’s important that you perform a headcount in April.
In essence, nothing will change in how you process payroll. The main thing is that after each “payroll event” your payroll software provider will need to send some additional reporting information to the ATO. If your software provider doesn’t support Single Touch Payroll by July 1 2018 and you employ 20 or more employees, you may need to look for another provider.
Yes, absolutely! We’re already investigating the requirements for STP reporting and will commence implementation with our technology partners soon. The ATO are planning to release more information for software developers in Oct 2017 so as soon as that is available, we’ll begin our build. We don’t have an ETA on when it’ll be ready to use, however we will definitely be ready before July 1 2018.
Yes – you’ll still need to submit a BAS, but the W1 and W2 values will be pre-filled
Yes
If you use Single Touch Payroll reporting, you may not need to submit a payment summary report. We’re still awaiting final clarification on this.
If you use STP reporting, you may not need to submit a payment summary report.
No, Single Touch Payroll is a reporting solution only. You will still need to make PAYG and super payments separately. PAYG can be processed through an ABA file and super payments can be automated with ClickSuper.
Yes – if you’re an employer that has 19 employees or under and you want to use Single Touch Payroll, then you should be able to do so.
Yes, bureau payroll providers and BAS agents will be able to lodge STP data on behalf of clients
The best place is to check the ATO website.