First off, what is Single Touch Payroll?
Single Touch Payroll (STP) is (another) government initiative that will change the way to report your payroll to the ATO from 1 July 2018.
STP businesses will electronically report salary and wages, pay as you go (PAYG) withholding and superannuation directly to the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) at the same time as you pay your employees as opposed to once a year at the beginning of July.
This new streamlined reporting to the ATO will, in theory, make it easier for you to meet your payroll processing obligations.
3 Key Steps To Be STP Ready:
You don’t want to start using STP with inaccurate employee information – ask your employees to confirm all the personal details you hold on file for them. We’ve also created this simple employee guide to introduce your team to the new changes.
Your STP Checklist
Once You Start Using STP
- You will no longer need to provide an end-of-year payment summary to employees.
- STP will allow the ATO to better assist you meet your PAYG withholding and superannuation obligations.
- You may have an option to use a new streamlined, prefilled employee commencement process through myGov.
FAQs:
It is based on the number of people you employed on the 1st April 2018. It doesn’t matter if they are part time, full time or casual. It is not based on your full-time equivalent (FTE).
Yes, this doesn’t change.
No, if you have opted into STP reporting you will no longer need to send annual PAYG summaries to your team in 2019.
No. Each STP filing in Xero includes all year-to-date payroll information.
No. STP compliance is part of the Xero product offering.
