So STP what is it? This only applies to businesses who employ staff so if that is you then please read on;
- Currently you report your wages data on BAS (Business Activity Statements) and IAS (Installment Activity Statements)
- The ATO is bring in a system that will eventually replace this called Single Touch Payroll
So what is this? Well firstly its not really Single Touch Payroll! What it is is actually instead of reporting your wages data on a monthly or quarterly basis you now report your wages data in full every pay! The ATO has built some computer widgets that means this data will then update in real time into each employees tax file, this will allow employees to see their end of year numbers at all time (year to date wages and tax withheld) it will also connect to the electronic superannuation systems the ATO has already built allowing real time tracking of employers who are (or are not) paying their employees super on time.
So what do we need to do? For all of our clients I will be raising this as part of your end year work but as of todays date all our clients are using either Xero, Quickbooks or MYOB bookeeping packages which are fully compliant with STP. There are still a few steps needed to get STP running but this is generally not too hard to do.
If you need help setting up Single Touch Payroll for your business please do not hesitate to get in touch.