Single Touch Payroll (STP) is a government initiative to streamline business reporting obligations. It starts from 1 July 2019 for employers with 19 or less employees (businesses with 20 or more employees were required to be STP compliant in July 2018).
STP requires employers (or their registered agent/intermediary) to report payments such as salaries and wages, PAYG withholding and super information directly to the ATO from their payroll system. This must be reported after every pay run has been finalised but no later than the employee's payment date.
To help you get started we have an STP registration wizard that you can easily follow to:
- enter all the required business details
- show you how to register the software ID with the ATO
- enable the payroll software for the electronic lodgement of STP information to the ATO
You can access the wizard from 2 areas in the software.
1. Payroll Dashboard:
The wizard can be launched from here using the Enable Single Touch Payroll option just under the New Pay Run option.
Note- this option will NOT appear if your payroll file is already enabled for STP.
2. ATO Settings:
The wizard can be launched from here using the Enable Electronic Lodgement option.
Note- this option will NOT appear if your payroll file is already enabled for STP.
The first screen will give you a brief explanation about STP. If you do not wish to continue you can Cancel from this screen or clicking on Proceed will launch the STP wizard and take you to the first step:
Step 1 - Business Details:
The details entered here are the employer details that will be lodged with the ATO.
If you already have information entered on the ATO Settings page in your payroll account these details will pre-populate this first step. You can then add any other relevant details.
If you do NOT have any details entered on the ATO Supplier Settings page the information from the Business Details page will pre-populate this first step. And, again, you can then add any other relevant details.
The fields here include:
- ABN;
- Branch Number (this is not a mandatory field);
- Company Name;
- Contact Name (this is not a mandatory field for STP reporting);
- Address; and
- Phone Number.
Once you have confirmed the details entered in Step 1 you can - Cancel the wizard; Save for Later (this will save any information already entered); or click on Next to proceed.
If at any point, you select the 'Save for Later' option, all the details you have previously entered will save and you will then have the option to either continue with the wizard OR go back to the payroll dashboard:
If you do leave the wizard after saving the current information the payroll dashboard will show an updated version of the Enable Single Touch Payroll option. There will be a warning against this option - Enable Single Touch Payroll process is incomplete.
Step 2 - Lodgement Authority:
You will need to configure who will be lodging submissions to the ATO on behalf of the business.
There are 3 options:
- The employer (this option should be selected if no external TAX/BAS Agent will be lodging submissions to the ATO on the business's behalf and there is only one employing entity set up in the business);
- A registered TAX/BAS agent (this option should be selected if an external TAX/BAS Agent will be lodging submissions to the ATO on the business's behalf, even if there is one or more employing entity set up in the business); or
- 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).
If you select a 'registered TAX/BAS agent' or 'intermediary' you will need to enter the relevant details for the option selected. For more information on this, click here.
Once you have confirmed the details entered in Step 2 you can - go Back a step in the wizard; Save for Later (this will save any information already entered); or click on Next to proceed.
Step 3 - Enable ATO Integration:
Your business' software ID must be registered with the ATO before enabling STP for your payroll. You can do this by phoning the ATO on 1300 852 232 or log in to Access Manager using your myGovID credentials. You will need to be the principal authority or authorisation administrator in Relationship Authorisation Manager (RAM) to use Access Manager.
For more detailed instructions on this, click here.
Once the software ID has been registered with the ATO you will need to tick the relevant option you used to register the software ID and then read and acknowledge the final declaration.
Once you have confirmed the details entered in Step 3 you can - go Back a step in the wizard; Save for Later (this will save any information already entered); or click on Complete to finalise.
Congratulations! You are now enabled for STP.. easy as that!
On this last screen, there are a couple of links to assist you depending on what your next step is.
And then, you can either go straight to the ATO settings page if you need to configure additional details or go back to the payroll dashboard.