Single Touch Payroll

What is Single Touch Payroll?

With the passing of the legislation supporting Single Touch Payroll (STP) in September 2016, it is a legal requirement for employers of more than 20 employees to report through STP, though the effective date depends on the size of the employer:

Employers with 20 employees or more will be required to report through STP from 1 July 2018
Employers with 19 employees or less may report voluntarily through STP but it is not a requirement at this stage. However, subject to legislation being passed in parliament, this may become a requirement from 1 July 2019.

Watch this one-minute video to understand how Westpac may help make the Single Touch Payroll process simple.

The main components of Single Touch Payroll

Payroll event reporting

When employers pay their staff, year-to-date information on employee salaries or wages, PAYG withholding amounts and superannuation guarantee obligations must be reported to the ATO.

Employee commencement

The ATO will provide the ability for employees to optionally complete initial forms such as the TFN Declaration and Superannuation Standard Choice Form electronically via myGov.

Employers

Compliance with STP reporting requirements is a legal obligation of employers, meaning that if you are an employer with 20 employees or more then you are affected.

Payroll event reporting

Employers should speak to their payroll software provider. Payroll software providers should have the ability to produce STP event messages as an option through their platforms. These messages can then be processed and transferred to the ATO via the optional STP module within QuickSuper.

Employee commencement

The ATO will provide the ability for employees to optionally complete initial forms such as the TFN Declaration and Superannuation Standard Choice Form electronically via myGov.

Connectivity to the ATO

In the event a provider is unable to assist with connectivity to the ATO please contact Westpac to discuss your options.

Payroll solution providers

Payroll software providers may be called upon by employers to assist with their obligations under the new legislation.

Payroll event reporting

Many employers will be looking to their payroll solution providers to help comply with the single touch payroll event reporting requirements.

Payroll solution providers need to consider how their solutions will connect with the ATO.

Single touch payroll will use the same transfer protocol used in SuperStream (ebMS) to report to the ATO. Through Westpac’s SuperStream client base, Westpac has proven ebMS capability and can provide similar services to payroll solution providers, where:

The payroll solution provider can:

Create the data in the format as specified by the ATO, or optionally provide the data in a custom format which Westpac can transform to the ATO standard; or
Send the data to Westpac in a simpler method of choice (such as SFTP, SOAP, HTTPS).

Westpac will then:

Package the data and send it to the ATO via ebMS, including processing retries if the ATO service is unavailable; and
Collect response messages from the ATO once available

Payroll software providers can retrieve response messages from Westpac using a similar method that is used to send the original data message.

Employee commencement

The ATO will provide the ability for employees to optionally complete initial forms such as the TFN Declaration and Superannuation Standard Choice Form electronically via myGov.

Should the ATO offer a wholesale service, it is Westpac’s intention to provide services to make it easier for employers to connect to these services, further details will be released as they are made available.

Get ready for Single Touch Payroll with Westpac

Westpac is one of the leading SuperStream solution providers to employers and superannuation funds through our QuickSuper platform. QuickSuper connects to a number of ATO services, providing capability that will be extended to support STP.

Product specialist

Please contact your product specialist for further information