The ATO has introduced a new payroll reporting framework for employers called Single Touch Payroll which is set to commence from 1 July 2018 for large employers with 20 or more employees on 1 April 2018, while employers with 19 employees or less have until 1 July 2019 to comply with the new requirements, subject to legislation passing through parliament.

The number of employees in question is the number of employees you had on 1 April 2018 and simply needs to be documented for your records. Employees to be included in the headcount are full time, part time, casual and seasonal employees. Independent contractors, company directors, employees who ceased before 1 April and casual employees who did not work in March are to be excluded.

If you are using accounting software with a payroll solution, check if it is Single Touch Payroll ready. Employers with fewer than 20 employees and not using accounting software will need to adopt a payroll solution before 1 July 2019 to ensure compliance with the new requirements.

Under the Single Touch Payroll requirements, payment information of employees will be reported to the ATO on a regular basis depending on the business’s usual pay cycle (weekly/fortnightly/monthly). Payment information reported to the ATO will include employees’ salaries and wages, allowances, deductions, PAYG withholding and, importantly, superannuation information including super guarantee. Each time you pay your employees, tax and super details will be reported to the ATO. There will be no changes to the pay cycle or due dates for payment of PAYG tax or super contributions.

Another change under Single Touch Payroll is the removal of the need to prepare and lodge PAYG payment summaries to employees at the end of the financial year for most payments, as all the relevant information would have already been reported to the ATO. From the employee’s perspective, the pay information will be shown in their MyGov account, then transferred into the ATO “pre-fill” report.

CONTACT US TODAY at BSN & Co if you need help bringing you up to date with single touch payroll.