STP Deadline

Are You STP Ready?

What is Single Touch Payroll (STP) and Are You Ready?

Single Touch Payroll affects EVERYONE who owns a business with employees, and requires action by 1st July 2019.

Single Touch Payroll, also called STP or one touch payroll, is an initiative from the ATO to encourage frequent salary reporting. This means you’ll be required to report salaries and wages, PAYG withholding and superannuation, every time you pay your employees. STP is required under new legislation.

From 1st July 2018, STP became mandatory for employers with 20 or more employees. From 1st July 2019, all Australian small business owners are required to report their payroll information. This means employers will have to adopt a compliant payroll solution, often software based, from 1st July 2019.

What Does This Mean For You?

For some businesses, the only change you’ll need to make is reporting more frequently instead of once at the end of the financial year. You can start reporting any time if you currently use payroll or accounting software that offers Single Touch Payroll.

Why Is It Important To Be Compliant By The Deadline?

• From 1st July 2019, it is now legislation that all businesses report via STP.
• The ATO will be able to identify employers not using STP, in a relatively simple way.
• Penalties may apply to employers not using STP by the required date.
• Employers not using STP may be subject to payroll audit.
• The ATO announced that from 1st July 2010, they expect that labels W1 and W2 of business activity statements for employers will be pre-filled based on information provided through STP.

Getting Started

The purpose of STP is to streamline your payroll reporting with the ATO. Listed below are some of the changes you will need to make when you start STP reporting:

• You need to report your employees’ tax and super information to the ATO on or before each pay day. You will send this information from your STP enabled software.
• You will no longer need to provide payment summaries to your employees for the payments you report and finalise through STP.
• You will report your employees super liability information for the first time through STP.

How Can We Help?

Although change can often be daunting, especially in terms of operating a business, we can help you in many ways.

1. We can check if your current payroll or accounting software is STP compliant,
2. If your current payroll or accounting software is not STP compliant, we can provide you with a solution so that you are “STP ready”,
3. If your current payroll or accounting software is STP compliant, we can ensure that the necessary steps are taken to set up the STP functionality,
4. We can determine the best way to send your report to the ATO (you may be eligible for some traditional reporting concessions),
5. We can guide you through your first pay run using STP.

We have been ready for STP changes and we have anticipated your concerns, If you are worried you are not ready or compliant, please contact Bishop Collins Chartered Accountants on (02) 4353 2333 to discuss your options.