Legislation has now passed through parliament for the extension of Single Touch Payroll to include employers with under 19 employees.
This will mean that from July 1 2019 all employers will be required to use software that reports their payroll including superannuation to the Tax Office.
Below is a link to the Tax Office information on Single Touch Payroll.
https://www.ato.gov.au/Business/Single-Touch-Payroll/About-Single-Touch-Payroll/
As is shown in this information Payment Summaries will no longer be issued with a finalisation declaration at the end of the financial year informing the Tax Office that everything is finalised.
Employees will be able to see their year to date information through their myGov account.
Superannuation amounts will be reported through STP and the Superannuation Funds will report to the Tax Office when the amount is paid
Eventually the Activity Statement payroll items for the employer will prefill with the amount reported
Here is a link to the Single Touch Payroll Get Ready checklist
https://www.ato.gov.au/uploadedFiles/Content/CR/downloads/stp_checklist.pdf
Most important is to keep informed and be ready. Most commercial software will be updating so they are compliant and the Tax Office is allowing a transition period and opportunity for deferral if you will not be ready by the 1st July 2019.
This article appeared in our December 2018 newsletter. Author – Patricia Glenn
