What the Single Touch Payroll legislation means for your business
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Payroll is about to go through a tremendous legislative change on 1 July 2018 with the introduction of Single Touch Payroll (STP). The new legislation is a change in the way the Australian Government requires businesses to report payroll information to the Australian Taxation Office (ATO). Moving forward, employers are required to share payroll information with the ATO at the same time they pay employees. This information includes salaries and wages, deductions, pay as you go (PAYG) withholding and super information.
The whole introduction of STP is part of the Government’s digital first strategy and requires businesses to either partner with payroll service providers
This has led to a lot of businesses panicking about being prepared, with scaremongers in the industry taking it as an opportunity to spruik a new software product, upgrade or consultancy service.
Are you compliant? Are you STP ready? Have you prepared for the new legislation? Does your software report to the ATO? These questions are floating around the industry looking for unwitting customers to come to the provider asking them to make them ready.
The reality is that while some smaller firms and payroll software providers are progressing with the rollout, for larger businesses and software providers there are added complexities that are currently being worked through in collaboration with the ATO. The technical specifications and guidelines for STP are still being finalised by the ATO. Meanwhile, payroll software service providers continue to adapt and integrate changes based on current specifications.
The processes are in place and once the final specifications have been shared, it will be all hands on deck to get products finalised by 1 July 2018. Find out more in our in-depth paper on what are the simple steps you need to consider and the impact on your business.
Article by Brad Stockman, Ascender Senior Product Analyst. This article appeared in Anthill Online.
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