Single Touch Payroll Update

Employers with 19 or fewer employees are required to start reporting through Single Touch Payroll (‘STP’) from 1 July 2019.

The ATO will be working with employers to support them as they transition to STP, including allowing small employers to start reporting any time from 1 July to 30 September (and the ATO will also be “generous” in granting deferrals to small employers who need more time to start STP reporting).

Note also that employers with 19 or less employees do not need to report ‘closely held payees’ in 2019/20 and can report closely held payees information quarterly from 1 July 2020.

Employees and payment summaries

The ATO has also reminded employees that how they get their end of Financial year information from their employer, showing their earnings for the year, depends on how their employer reports their income, tax and super information to the ATO.

Specifically:

• Employers that are not yet reporting through STP will continue to provide employees with a payment summary by 14 July.
• Employers that report through STP are no longer required to give employees a payment summary; instead this information will be provided in an ‘income statement’, available via the employee’s myGov account by 31 July (i.e., when the employer marks it as ‘Tax Ready’).

Editor: We will be able to access employee clients’ payment summaries or income statement information through our connections with the ATO (this has not changed).
Please contact our office if you have any queries about STP (whether as an employer or employee).