Single Touch Payroll is coming from 1 July 2018
If you report payroll and super information to the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) and have 20 or more employees, here are some things you need to know right now.
What is Single Touch Payroll?
Single Touch Payroll 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.
- Single Touch Payroll is a change to the way employers report their tax and superannuation information to the ATO.
- 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.
- Although there is no legal obligation, employers can begin to report through Single Touch Payroll from 1 July 2017 if their payroll solution is Single Touch Payroll enabled.
- Employers with 20 or more employees must report through Single Touch Payroll under law from 1 July 2018.
To determine if an employer is required to report through Single Touch Payroll, they will need to undertake a head count of their employees on 1 April 2018, or a later year where an assessment hasn’t been undertaken in a prior year.
Reporting under Single Touch Payroll removes the requirement to issue payment summaries, provide annual reports and tax file number (TFN) declarations to the ATO.
A grace period will be provided for corrections to a Single Touch Payroll report; employers won’t be liable to a penalty for a late Single Touch Payroll report during the first year of compulsory reporting.
Need more information?
There are almost 100,000 employers in Australia with 20 or more employees who will need to transition to Single Touch Payroll reporting from 1 July 2018.
