The ATO has provided two PDF documents for tax practitioners, tax agents and other tax and payroll professionals — a “Communication resource pack” and a “Tax practitioner presentation” — in preparation for the looming introduction of Single Touch Payroll (STP). (Scroll down for download links.)
The ATO says the above resources are intended to:
provide information on how STP will workprovide information to help you communicate with your clientsexplain what you need to know right nowdetail the legal basis for STP, andoutline your role in helping your clients transition to STP reporting.
To become obligatory from July 1, 2018 for employers with 20 or more employees, STP is a government initiative to streamline business reporting obligations. When an employer pays their employees, the payroll information will be sent to the ATO from their payroll solution.
Employers will be able to report salary or wages, pay-as-you-go (PAYG) withholding and super information directly to the ATO from their payroll solution, at the same time they pay their employees. There is no obligation, but employers can begin to report through STP from July 1, 2017 if their payroll system is already enabled to work with STP.
Reporting under the new system removes the requirement to issue payment summaries, provide annual reports and tax file number declarations to the ATO. During the first year of its introduction, the ATO says employers will not be liable for a penalty for a late STP report.
Download the PDF “Communication resource pack”Download the PDF “Tax practitioner presentation”
For more information on STP and how it may affect your firm’s dealings with your business clients, see this ATO webpage. If you need further information the ATO says it is happy to help, and can be contacted at SingleTouchPayroll@ato.gov.au.
#[ATO], [Payroll], [single touch payroll], [STP], [tax]
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