SINGLE TOUCH PAYROLL

Information for employers

Single Touch Payroll reporting starts from 1 July 2018 for employers with 20 or more employees.

To find out if you need to be ready by then, you will need to do a headcount of the employees you have on your payroll on 1 April 2018 (see How to count your employees).

If you have 20 or more employees on that date you will be a ‘substantial employer’. You will need to report through Single Touch Payroll from 1 July 2018. This is now law.

If you have 19 or less employees, Single Touch Payroll reporting will be optional until 1 July 2019. It will be mandatory from that date, subject to legislation being passed in parliament.

How your reporting will change

Your payroll solution will need to be updated for Single Touch Payroll reporting.

When you pay your employees through your Single Touch Payroll-enabled solution you will be reporting payments such as their salaries and wages, allowances, deductions (for example, workplace giving) and other payments, pay as you go (PAYG) withholding and super information to the ATO at the same time.

Your payroll cycle does not need to change. You can continue to pay your employees weekly, fortnightly or monthly. You may have different pay cycles for different employees.

It simply means that when you complete your payroll, the tax and super information for each employee will be sent to us. This is a more streamlined way of reporting to us.

https://www.ato.gov.au/about-ato/about-us/in-detail/strategic-direction/streamlined-reporting-with-single-touch-payroll/?anchor=Employers1#Employers1