Single Touch Payroll

About

The ATO has brought in new ways for employers to report payments to employees. If you are an employer with 20 or more employees, you will have to report with this new program called Single Touch Payroll as of 1 July 2018. It essentially means that you will report salaries and wages, pay as you go withholding and super direct from your payroll system at the same time you pay the employee. The ATO will expand this to include employers with less than 19 employees from 1 July 2019.

How Reporting Will Change

The system you currently use for payroll will need to accommodate Single Touch Payroll reporting. This system will provide the ATO with all certain payments such as the employees wages but also includes their allowances and or deductions that are usually included in their pay.

The cycle of the employers payroll does not need to change, and can still pay with the same regularity as you were in the past. It essentially is a more streamlined approach for the ATO to gain information from when you pay employees, as you the data reported will be sent on or before the day the employer pays its employees.

Who Is Included As An Employee?

The start date where the number of employees is included is as of 1 April 2018 and includes the following:

• Full-time employees
• Part-time employees
• Casual employees as at 1 April
• Employees based overseas
• Any employee absent or on leave (paid/unpaid)
• Seasonal employees

Payroll Software

If you have a payroll provider or do you own payroll on your own system, these products should be updated to include the changes the ATO have made.