All you need to know about STP for your business is explained by Advivo Business Advisors and Accountants.
Single Touch Payroll (STP) is a government initiative that allows employers to streamline payroll by sending tax and super information to the Australian Tax Office (ATO) from a third party, your payroll, or accounting software. This reporting increases the transparency of payroll data. The data matching allows the ATO to match up information about employer payments and tax information received from superannuation funds. The ATO can track whether employers are meeting their tax obligations to ensure omissions are minimised.
Most businesses are already using STP to report wage payments to the ATO, however, small employers (19 or fewer employees) are currently exempt from reporting ‘closely held’ payees through STP.
As of the 1st of July 2021, businesses are required to report payments to closely held employees through the Single Touch Payroll (STP) system. These changes are summarised as follows:
Employers with closely held payees
From the 1st of July 2021, employers must report their closely held payees through STP. They can choose to report these payees each pay day, monthly or quarterly.
Micro employers reporting quarterly
From the 1st of July 2021, the eligibility criteria for the STP quarterly reporting concessions for micro employers will change and will only be available to micro employers who:
- report through a registered tax professional
- meet certain eligibility requirements which now include the need for exceptional circumstances to exist.
The STP reports are due the same day as the client’s quarterly activity statements. If a client lodges activity statements monthly, the quarterly STP reports are due the same day as their last monthly activity statement for the particular quarter. If an eligible client prefers to report monthly (rather than quarterly), the monthly STP reports must be lodged on or before the 21st day of the following month. This is the same due date as monthly activity statements.
If you have any questions or need any advice on your Single Touch Payroll obligations for your business, please contact our Brisbane team today.
