ATO Settings

ATO Settings can be accessed and updated by clicking on the 'Payroll Settings' tab on your payroll dashboard > ATO Settings. Here you will see 2 tabs: 

1. ATO Settings; and
2. Electronic Lodgement & STP.

A short video on this setup can be found here.

ATO Settings

These details will be used to identify this business to the ATO during electronic lodgements.

The first setting requires you to select the relevant scenario for the business. That is, who will be submitting reports to the ATO on behalf of this business. The three options available are:

1. The Employer

This option should be selected if no external TAX/BAS Agent will be lodging submissions to the ATO on behalf of the business and there is only one employing entity set up in the business. Additionally, WPN holders cannot select this option as the ATO does not support electronic lodgement by WPN holders. Rather, they must use a registered tax/BAS agent to report their STP. Refer to the section below on how to set this up.

If you have selected 'As the Employer', you will be required to complete the following information (the items marked with an asterisk (*) are not compulsory fields):

• ABN (this field will auto-populate from the business details page and is non-editable) 
• Branch Number*
• Name 
• Address Line 1 
• Address Line 2*
• Suburb 
• Contact Name 
• Signatory Name* (only required to be completed if you want the name on the income statements to be different to that entered in the 'Contact Name' field above)
• Contact Email
• Phone Number
• Fax Number*
• Is this employer exempt from FBT under section 57A of the FBTAA 1986?: The applicable FBT legislation allows a further amount for salary packaged meal entertainment and entertainment facility leasing expenses. Refer here for further information. If the business is eligible for this, select 'Yes' for this setting. If the business has multiple employing entities set up, this setting will need to be configured for each entity via the Employing Entities screen. 

Prior to 16 July 2021 there were an additional 2 sub-settings which separated out the type of organisation and whether or not employees were entitled to a separate cap for salary packaged entertainment benefits. These have both been removed as they do not impact whatsoever how RFB amounts are reported for employees via STP (or payment summaries for that matter) and so were redundant. As a result, the following will also occur:

• Any existing lodged STP events that did not have RFB amounts reported will only have one RFB column (called “RFBA”) displayed in the event;
• If any existing lodged STP events have RFB amounts reported in the ‘RFBA – Entertainment’ or ‘RFBA – Other’ column, the applicable RFB column will remain in the event as will the amounts previously reported, that is, previously entered RFB amounts will not be lost as a result of this change;
• The bulk import RFB template will no longer display 2 RFB columns. As per new STP events created moving forward there will only be one column for RFBA.

2. A Registered TAX/BAS Agent

This option should be selected if an external TAX/BAS Agent will be lodging submissions to the ATO on behalf of the business, even if there is one or more employing entity set up in the business.

N.B. The ATO has reported that users lodging STP reports on behalf of clients are considered to be providing a payroll service and will, therefore, need to be registered as an agent with the Tax Practitioner Board (TPB).

For further information, visit Registered agents providing a payroll service at ato.gov.au.

This setting is broken up into 2 sections:
(a) the TAX/BAS Agent details; and
(b) the Business details. The business details fields required to be completed are identical to the 'As the Employer' details above.

The additional details required to be completed pertain specifically to the TAX/BAS Agent themselves and are as follows:

• Tax Agent Number
• ABN
• Contact Name 
• Phone Number
• Contact Email

All the TAX/BAS Agent fields are compulsory. You will not be able to save the ATO Settings without completing all the fields.

3. An intermediary for multiple employing entities

This option should be selected if the employer is lodging all ATO submissions and there is more than one employing entity set up in the business.

This setting is broken up in 2 sections:
(a) the Intermediary details; and
(b) the Business details. The business details fields required to be completed are identical to the 'As the Employer' details above.

The additional details required to be completed pertain specifically to the Intermediary themselves and are as follows:

• ABN
• Contact Name 
• Phone Number
• Contact Email

You can choose one of the employing entities to act as the Intermediary or another entity of the business. 
All the Intermediary fields are compulsory. You will not be able to save the ATO Supplier Settings without completing all the fields.

Copy Business Details

If you click Copy from Business Settings, it will populate the business fields from the information previously entered on the business details screen. This function can be used regardless of what ATO setting is chosen: 



The ABN field (in the Business Details or The Employer sections) will automatically populate from the business details page even if the Copy from Business Settings option is not selected. And, the ABN field cannot be edited. 

Electronic Lodgement & STP

1. Enabling electronic lodgement will allow you to lodge STP events seamlessly to the ATO as well as lodge employee tax file declarations online directly to the ATO. 
2. Before you enable electronic lodgement within the payroll software contact the ATO and provide them with your software provider & software ID information. Click here for detailed instructions on how to do this. The software ID is a unique number per business and so should not be shared with anyone else outside of the ATO. 
3. It is essential your connection with the ATO has been established before you enable the electronic lodgement to avoid issues with STP lodgements failing. Refer here for details on errors that will occur. 
4. Once ATO has provided confirmation and the connection has been established, click Enable Electronic Lodgement.
5. This launches the STP registration wizard. See here for details on how to complete the STP registration wizard. You need to select the option used to establish the connection with the ATO from  the STP registration process.
6. On completion of the wizard, your electronic lodgement will be enabled (this includes STP).

Once the STP registration process is complete & electronic lodgement is enabled, you will notice additional sections appear on the screen:

• Business Management Software (BMS) ID:
  This is the unique ID that is used by the ATO to identify your business. If you have migrated to this payroll system from another payroll system during the financial year and meet the requirements of Scenario 2, Option 2 in this article you can change this payroll system's BMS ID and carry over the previous payroll system's BMS ID. To do this, follow the instructions provided here. 
  
  
• Standing Authority Declaration: 
  Taxpayer Declaration Guide. (NB. Keep a signed paper copy of this declaration on file but you do not need to attach this form anywhere in the platform.) If this declaration has been completed, you can enter the details of this authority here. You are then able to use the Standing Authority when lodging pay events that include the same payroll information on a defined schedule. For example, an ongoing fortnightly pay run that includes the same payroll information each pay schedule where no ad-hoc payments are being made such as bonuses, commissions, back pays, etc. If the payroll information changes for a particular pay run, the Agent must request client authority prior to lodging the pay event.
  
  NOTE- the Standing Authority Declaration section will only appear if the 'As a registered Tax/BAS agent' option has been selected for who will be reporting STP to the ATO on the ATO Settings tab. 
  

  To add a Standing Authority, click on 'Add Standing Authority' and the following popup will appear: 
  
  

  (a) Enter the full name and email address of the person who has provided the standing authority, in the form of - [First Name] [Surname] / [email address];
  (b) enter the date the written authority was provided; and
  (c) click on 'Save'.
  
  It is not compulsory for a registered agent to have a Standing Authority with their client - that is, it is not essential for STP reporting. All this means is that before you lodge a pay event, you will need to request client authority from within the system. The person(s) appointed to provide the authority will log into the applicable pay event and approve the event. Only after this time will the registered agent have the ability to successfully lodge the pay event.