We’re STP ready – are you?

Single Touch Payroll (STP) is the new way to report employee wages, withholding tax and super data to the ATO.
Instead of waiting til after the end of financial year – businesses will be reporting electronically in real time – you need STP enabled software to do this (no more carbon paper forms). If you still have old desktop accounting software it might not link to the ATO – you may need to update your systems to connect to the tax office. Your bookkeeper can help you select and setup the best system for you.

Each time you or your BAS agent/bookkeeper processes your wages, you will send the payslip to your staff as you always do, and the next step will be to send the info to the tax office too. Only employees & owners of the business, or registered BAS & Tax Agents are allowed to report STP data to the ATO on behalf of a business. Non registered outsourced support may not assist you with STP. Look for this logo to confirm your bookkeeper and/or accountant are licenced to lodge.

STP will not change your payment cycles – to staff, to the super fund or to the ATO (you will still submit and pay your BAS / IAS as before).

Super funds will report back to the ATO when they receive payments, so employee super entitlements can be monitored more closely.
The biggest change most people will notice is the lack of payment summaries (or group certificates in the old lingo). The employer will submit an end of year finalisation to the tax office and employees will need to login to their mygov account to see their data (or their accountant will access it to complete their tax return).

You can read all the details on the ATO website
https://www.ato.gov.au/business/single-touch-payroll/what-is-stp-/

Are you ready to meet the STP reporting deadline on September 30?
We sure are! Contact us if you need some help getting STP ready.

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