Single Touch Payroll

Single Touch Payroll

You may have heard of the term Single Touch Payroll Reporting (‘STPR’) being bandied around lately. The belief is that STPR will streamline the way employers report some tax and superannuation information to the ATO.

From 1 July 2018, it will be compulsory for employers with 20 or more employees to use STPR. This will then become compulsory for all employers from 1 July 2019 regardless of the amount of employees.

What does this mean in terms of changes to your business?

  • The Ordinary Time Earnings, salary or wages and Pay-As-You-Go withholding information will be reported and available to the Commissioner in ‘real time’ when payroll is processed by the employer
  • Superannuation will be reported to the Commissioner at the time the contributions are paid. 
  • Employers will have to acquire SBR-enabled software to comply with their PAYG withholding obligations
  • New employees can complete TFN declarations and Super Choice forms online
  • The STPR reports for PAYG withholding will become the accepted form for reporting PAYG withholding instead of the Business Activity Statements (BAS). A failure to lodge in the approved form may attract penalties
  • Employers that have reported their PAYG withholding obligations via STPR, will have these amounts prefilled by the ATO on their BAS
  • Employers will no longer be required to submit an annual PAYG report to the ATO
  • Employers may no longer need to provide payment summaries to employees, as the employees will have access to their payroll information via their myGov account.

What doesn’t change?

  • If the employer does not elect to pay at the same time they report under the STPR there is no change to the due date for payment of the PAYG Withholding liability
  • STPR does not change the payment due date for superannuation guarantee, which is generally on the 28th day following a quarter

I strongly recommend that your business’s SGC and PAYG payroll processes are reviewed to make sure that the treatment of these payments and remuneration is correct. This should be performed before the mandatory implementation of STRP.