Single Touch Payroll

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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:
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.
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.
Payroll software providers may be called upon by employers to assist with their obligations under the new legislation.
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:
Westpac will then:
Payroll software providers can retrieve response messages from Westpac using a similar method that is used to send the original data message.
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.
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.