What has changed?
On 14 February 2019 Parliament officially passed legislation requiring employers with 19 employees or less to report Single Touch Payroll (STP) figures to the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) from 1 July 2019. This has already been the case for employers with 20 or more staff since 1 July 2018. Whilst all businesses are encouraged to have STP up and running by 1 July 2019, the deadline for full compliance has been extended to 30 September 2019.
What is STP?
STP involves the reporting of salaries and wages, Pay As You Go Withholding and superannuation guarantee information to the ATO after each pay run. Its purpose is to streamline the payroll process by keeping an up-to-date record of these figures throughout the financial year. This means that preparation of end of financial year payment summaries will be a thing of the past, with payroll data being available to employees through their myGov accounts.
How does this affect me?
No matter whether you have 1 or 100 employees, you must have a payroll system in place to report these figures to the ATO. Each accounting system (such as MYOB, Xero etc.) is now equipped with an STP reporting function, making the transition to this obligation quite seamless. If you are not yet set up with an accounting package, there are affordable options available, with some for as little as $10/month for payroll functionality. Please find below a list of useful links to packages offered by various accounting platforms:
Why act now?
With the deadline fast approaching, our team at M & M Group Accounting can help you avoid the last-minute scramble, and to ensure you are 100 percent on-track with compliance. We remove the stresses associated with the introduction of new laws, and can take care of your business’s STP reporting obligations from start-to-finish, so you don’t need to decipher complicated ATO fact sheets or procedures.
If you have any queries, or require more information on the above, please do not hesitate to contact our office on 07 5551 1334 or info@mmgroupaccounting.com.au. To keep up-to-date with the most important developments in all things payroll, accounting and financial, follow us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/MMGroupAccounting.