Small business? Get ready for single touch payroll

From 1 July 2019, employers with fewer than 20 employees will have to comply with real-time reporting of wage and super information to the ATO through ‘Single Touch Payroll’ (STP).

As of this date, these smaller employers must use payroll or accounting software that offers STP to send their employees’ tax and super information to the ATO each time they run their payroll and pay their employees.

This new law has been brought in with the aim of ensuring small businesses meet their legal obligation to pay superannuation for their workers through real-time reporting.

Previously, real-time reporting only applied to larger employers, while small businesses were able to take as long as three months to make and report super payments.

Importantly, the new legislation will also shift the burden of identifying and collecting unpaid super from individual workers and ex-employees to the ATO. Up until now, the ATO has largely relied on employees to make complaints to alert them to the non-payment of super – at a very real risk to the jobs of the employees who do this. This measure will apply to all employers.

For more details speak to your First Super Business Development Manager and learn more on our dedicated Employers page. Alternatively, visit the ATO website.