As we draw closer to the 2020/21 end of financial year, the ATO have released information for employers on key changes expected in the Phase 2 expansion of Single Touch Payroll.
While there is nothing that employers need to do right now, we recommend getting your payroll staff familiar with what's changing and what is staying the same from the recently deferred mandatory start date of STP Phase 2 on 1 January 2022.
What’s changing in Phase 2?
The information you will need to report to the ATO will change to include more detail, which means that it’s likely employers will need to collect additional data from their employees before 1 January 2022.
Some of the key changes outlined by the ATO include the requirement/ability to report:
- Employment basis (i.e. whether an employee is full-time, part-time or casual)
- Tax treatment (i.e. how withholding tax was calculated)
- Cessation type (i.e. the reason why a staff members employment ceased)
- Child support garnishees and deductions (optional but reduces alternate reporting)
- Income type and country code (to identify specific tax obligations)
- Disaggregation of gross (i.e. breaking down income to include bonuses, commissions, paid leave, overtime and more)
- Salary sacrificed amounts
There are also changes being introduced to how lump sum payments are categorised and reported and the ability to report previous Business Management Software IDs and Payroll IDs when you have had changes to your business and/or payroll software that you have been unable to zero update.
Although there are a lot of changes coming, it is important to note that there are many things that are not changing, such as how you submit your STP report and when you are required to submit your reports.
A
full outline of the expansion has been provided by the ATO and is available from their website.
Sybiz will continue to communicate with our customers about the upcoming changes to Single Touch Payroll as information becomes available. We encourage Sybiz customers to ensure they are
subscribed to receive our customer newsletters to stay up to date.