STP reporting started gradually on 1 July 2018 for substantial employers (those with 20 or more employees) and is now extending to include employers with 19 or less employees. Starting from the 1st of July 2019, all businesses will be required to be STP complaint.
Single Touch Payroll (STP) aligns your reporting obligations to your payroll processing and requires companies to report information like employees' salaries and wages, allowances, deductions (for example, workplace giving), pay as you go (PAYG) withholding and superannuation to the ATO.
STP reporting started gradually on 1 July 2018 for employers with 20 or more employees and is now being extended to include employers with 19 or fewer employees with effect from 1 July 2019. Following which, all businesses will be required to be STP compliant.
Here is what you need to consider:
- How will STP affect your current reporting procedures?
- How will STP change the employee onboarding process?
- What penalties can arise from not meeting STP compliance?
- Is your payroll data STP ready?
Where should you start?
- Read. Read. Read. Before you upgrade to the STP compliant version of your software or start reporting to the ATO, read about STP and how it is changing your current reporting procedures;
- Watch videos and attend webinars. Earlier this year, software providers released videos and held webinars to update users with their progress with the STP functionality on the software, the changes in the user interface, and how to use the STP feature. Watch the Sybiz webinar and access the MYOB STP resources here;
- Upgrade your software! Last week we announced the last call for STP upgrades. If you have still not upgraded to the STP compliant version of your payroll software, please contact us immediately.
To know more about STP, go the ATO link here.