Single Touch Payroll – Are You Ready?

Single Touch Payroll (STP) has been on the radar for small business owners for some time now. First mentioned back in 2014 it wasn’t however until 1 July 2018 that STP was rolled out for employers with 20 or more employees. The rollout now extends to those with 19 or fewer employees as at 1st July 2019. Let’s take a closer look. What does Single Touch Payroll mean?
Essentially, STP means employers are now required to streamline their payroll reporting. Using payroll software, employers have to report their employees’ tax and super information to the ATO each time they pay their employees – instead of only monthly or quarterly.
This means every time you do a pay run in order to pay your employees, you need to send the ATO your STP data through your payroll software. It also means you will no longer be required to provide payment summaries to your employees for the payments you have already reported on using STP.
When do I need to be ready?
STP will be mandatory for employers who have 19 or less employees from 1 July 2019. What do I need to do?
One way in getting ready for STP is getting up-to-date accounting software or ensuring your existing payroll supplier is compliant. Once you have enabled electronic lodgement and STP within the platform, lodging a pay event is quite simple. Accountplan is also here to help as a registered tax and BAS agent to report your STP for you. What are the benefits?
It’s important to remember that STP is not a choice but required by the ATO.
Even though STP is mandatory, there are some benefits to Single Touch Payroll for employers. – It will help to streamline the reporting process – With the use of payroll software and pre-fill options, it will minimise errors – It will eventually eliminate the need for payment summaries – It will improve access to new employee information
Still unsure ?? Call Accountplan on 07 3883 8999 to start your journey toward being Single Touch Payroll compliant before the 1 July deadline