Large businesses in Katherine will have to change the way they report tax and super to the ATO starting July 1.
The change, known as Single Touch Payroll (STP) is an Australia wide initiative and is the next step in streamlining payroll reporting for employers with 20 or more employees.
The change will affect approximately 340 employers in the Outback – Northern Territory (inc. Katherine) region, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics.
If you’re an employer and unsure if you’re included in the changes, you’ll need to count how many employees as of April 1
If you count 20 or more employees, you will need to report through STP.
The ATO has outlined the next steps to help employers get ready for STP:
- Visit www.ato.gov.au/stp and download the ‘Get ready checklist’
- Do a headcount of all employees as of April 1 2018 to find out if you have 20 or more.
- If you are included in the changes, your first point of contact should be your payroll software provider and you need to ask them if your particular software product will be STP-ready on July 1.
Your provider should be able to advise what you need to do to make the STP transition. For example, you may need to update your existing software, or change to a payroll product that will be STP-enabled.
- Make any necessary updates or changes
- Start reporting to the ATO through STP
If you don’t use payroll software, you have a few options.
- Check with your tax, BAS agent or other payroll provider to see if they will be able to report through STP for you. If they can’t, you’ll need to find someone that offers this service
- Or you can adopt a payroll software solution that can report through STP
If your payroll software provider has asked the ATO for more time to finalise their STP solutions you will need to know what the ‘deferred start date’ for your product is. You should also make sure the deferred start date applies to you. So, ask your provider.
If you know you won’t be ready to start reporting with STP by July 1, but your provider is ready or has a valid deferral, you will need to ask the ATO directly if they will grant a deferred start date for you.
The ATO will be travelling through Australia during the first year to support employers through the transition.
STP will be rolled out for all employers from July 1, 2019, however legislation still needs to be passed in parliament.
This short video provides an overview of Single Touch Payroll.
