Is your small business ready for Single Touch Payroll?
For employers with 19 or fewer employees, single touch payroll (STP) legislation will be coming into effect on the 1st of July 2019. Are you ready? Because it’s important to start preparing now.
You need to know what Single Touch Payroll is, what the changes mean for your business and who it affects. And more importantly, you need to know what to do to prepare, so that you will be compliant.
What is Single Touch Payroll?
For employers with 20 or more employees, you will already be familiar with STP, but if you are unaware, STP is the mechanism for sending tax and super information to the ATO directly from your payroll or accounting software every time you pay your employees. The legislation was passed in February this year to extend this to employers with 19 or fewer employees.
How to prepare your small business for STP and ensure compliance
Most popular payroll software companies will have the correct facilities ready to go, such as Xero and MYOB. We will have spoken to many of our clients already about STP, however, if you are unsure, talk to us.
There are a few things to be aware of you as you get ready to use STP reporting.
- Check your software – you may need a software update or additional step added to your process
- Ensure you have factored STP into your payroll process
- Ensure your payroll compliance is up-to-date generally, including employee benefit, wage and super entitlements and maintaining accurate records
The first year of using STP reporting is a transition year and there will be assistance from the ATO. That means penalties for errors will not generally apply.
If you don’t think you will be ready by the 1st of July, you can apply for a deferral through the ATO. The ATO gives a list of possible reasons for deferring, including lack of internet coverage, or if further development of software is needed.