Single Touch Payroll - Streamline Reporting for Larger Employers
Single Touch Payroll (STP) is an initiative by the Federal Government with the aim of simplifying business-reporting obligations. The reporting change will be for employers with 20 or more employees initially and will take effect from 1 July, 2018. Employers will need to report payments such as salaries and wages, PAYG withholding and superannuation electronically through to the ATO directly from their payroll software at the same time they pay their employees.
So What does this mean for employers?
At the end of the financial year employers won’t need to complete payment summaries for their employees as the payroll information would have been reported to the ATO in real time throughout the year
It means a raft of payments which needed to be done manually can now be reported automatically
STP will become mandatory firstly for all employers with 20 or more employees
Employers with fewer than 20 employees will also have the option to adopt STP if they so choose
Some Key Dates to keep in mind:
- The official start date for STP is 1 July 2018
- On 1 April 2018, employers will need to do a head count of their employees (If you have more than 20 employees on that date, you’ll need to make sure your payroll software is STP-enabled from 1 July 2018)
The ATO is working with a small number of employers right now on a “limited release” of STP. For further information on from the ATO STP please click here.
