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STP2 Deferral Process announced

STP2 Deferral Process announced The ATO have now released the official Deferral Process for Digital and Payroll Service Providers for Phase 2 of Single Touch Payroll (STP2), mandated to come into effect on 1 January 2022.

In the first phase of Single Touch Payroll (STP1) launched in 2018, Sybiz was compliant on the scheduled start date, earlier than many other payroll vendors. Commended by our customers for our effective rollout, STP1 has continued to be a simple process with Sybiz Visipay, while enabling efficient STP reporting of other legislation such as JobKeeper and JobMaker in more recent times.

Sybiz rarely seeks deferrals, however for the following considerable reasons, we are intending on seeking a deferral until at least 1 July 2022 for STP2.

We have stressed in the past the importance of having adequate staff availability over the holiday period to manage STP reporting. Often, regular payroll staff may be on leave at this time, passing on necessary job functions to others, such as business owners. As a reflection of this, we believe that a 1 January start date, halfway through the financial year, is not a fair time for businesses to be able to learn and implement new reporting requirements.

In addition to this, in the lead up to STP phase 2 changes, employers will need to expand employee data and formalise other data to conform with the significant changes under STP2 and this will take some time to prepare.

Sybiz uses a sending service provider for STP, SuperChoice, and we also require further time to finalise a comprehensive and reliable solution with them that will cause minimum disruption to our customers.

The Deferral Process reveals that Digital and Payroll Service Providers can apply for a deferral from 1 July 2021. Employers are also able to apply for a deferral from 1 October 2021, with all deferral applications closing on 31 October 2021. However, Sybiz customers who are already reporting STP1 through Sybiz Visipay will not need to apply for a deferral separately, unless there is a genuine need to extend the delay longer than Sybiz aims to.

Sybiz will be advising our customers closely on the way forward with STP2 and any applicable deferrals as more information becomes available from the ATO.

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 in the next phase of Single Touch Payroll and we encourage Sybiz customers to ensure they are subscribed to receive our customer newsletters to stay up to date.
 

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