Single Touch Payroll (STP) started on 1st July 2018 for businesses employing 20 or more employees.  Small employers with 5 to 20 employees will be required to start reporting any time from 1 July 2019 to 30 September 2019. The ATO has advised they will grant deferrals to any small employer who requests additional time to start STP reporting and exemptions for those Employers experiencing hardship or in areas with intermittent or no internet connection.

So what can you do to get ready for STP?

There are three main areas that you should look at as soon as possible and these are –

Review Your Business Processes

There are five main things you need to review –

  • Make sure the right people in your business know about STP
  • Check if you are paying your employees correctly
  • Check if you are calculating your employees’ super entitlements correctly
  • Check if you are addressing overpayments correctly
  • Is your employee information accurate?

Contact Your Payroll Software Provider

There are four main things you need to check –

  • Find out when your payroll software will be ready for STP
  • Find out how your payroll software provider will offer STP – as an additional service or through an update to your existing software.
  • Check if they have a deferred start date
  • What support will they be offering to their clients to transition to STP?

Connect with the ATO

The ATO is working closely with payroll solution and service providers and they regularly publish information on their website so these are a few things you should do –

  • Subscribe to updates from the ATO, which you can do right here – Single Touch Payroll Updates
  • Follow the ATO on Social Media such as Twitter, Facebook & Linkedin.
  • Make sure the ATO has the right contact details for your business or organisation

Still Don’t Feel Ready for STP?

If you need to you can apply for more time.   You can find out more about how to apply for a deferred start date on the ATO website

If you still feel you need help then you are welcome to contact us for more information either by phoning or emailing.

More Information for Micro Employers with 1 to 4 Employees

ATO has advised they will offer micro employers help to transition to STP and a number of alternative options – such as allowing those who rely on a registered tax or BAS agent to report quarterly for the first two years, rather than each time payroll is run.

There are also No cost and Low cost STP software solutions currently available or being developed for less than $10 per month.

Click here to view these solutions

Phone or email us for more information about how we can help you make a smooth transition to STP.