Single touch payroll
Single Touch Payroll an easy and fast way of meeting your ATO reporting obligations
Single touch payroll
Small business owners are some of the hardest-working people around – according to some surveys, more than 1-in-4 small business owners regularly work 50+ hour weeks.
Many small business owners are notoriously time-poor, with much of their spare time being taken up by clerical and administrative tasks such as bookkeeping and payroll.
While modern bookkeeping and payroll software have made the process significantly easier and faster than the old days, there are always improvements to speed up the process.
And that’s exactly what Single Touch Payroll (STP) offers!
What is Single Touch Payroll?
Single Touch Payroll an easy and fast way of meeting your ATO reporting obligations.
Rather than calculate and compile PAYG tax and super contributions in a single statement at the end of the financial year, STP automatically transmits this information from your accounting software straight to the ATO whenever you do pay runs.
You won’t have to change anything about the way you handle pay runs either – you can stick to your existing cycle, and continue paying your employees as usual.
What’s in it for me?
In a single word, time.
Small business owners are busy people. Single Touch Payroll saves you time by essentially automating your reporting – you won’t have to compile an annual payment summary report to send to the ATO anymore.
STP also makes things easier on your staff. As the information is automatically transmitted to the ATO, employees will be able to check their income tax payments and contributions to their super funds in real-time on myGov.
Do I need STP?
Answer: yes.
Recently, Parliament voted to extend STP reporting requirements from large businesses to small businesses as well, including micro businesses with less than four staff.
As of 1 July 2019, the vast majority of Australian businesses will be required to use STP to report payroll information to the ATO.
However, there are a handful of businesses that are exempt from STP reporting, such as businesses in areas without internet access. Click here to find out if you qualify for an exemption, or contact the ATO directly for a deferral.
