Month: July 2025

STP Update

Posted on by brettz-control

Overview – STP Update

STP is a change to the way employers report their employees’ tax and super information to the Australian Taxation Office.

Using payroll or accounting software that offers STP, employers send their employees’ tax and super information to the ATO each time they run their payroll and pay their employees. STP information is sent to the ATO either directly from the software or through a third party (service provider).

Software providers can tell you more about how they offer Single Touch Payroll reporting.

Employers with 19 or less employees

Legislation to extend Single Touch Payroll to include employers with 19 or less employees is currently before parliament. The Bill has been passed by the Senate with a number of proposed amendments. It has been referred to the House of Representatives to consider the amendments put forward.

For now, you can choose to report through Single Touch Payroll. Talk to your software provider to find out what you need to do to update your software and start reporting.

The ATO won’t force employers with 19 or less employees to purchase payroll software if they don’t currently use it. Different STP reporting options will be available by 1 July 2019 to help smaller employers.

Exemptions to STP reporting will be available for employers with no internet or an unreliable connection.

You can start using STP now

From 29 January 2019, the ATO will write to small employers who have 19 or less employees and already use payroll software.

The ATO will remind employers that they don’t need to wait for legislation to pass to start reporting through STP. If their payroll software offers STP they can update their software and start reporting now.

Low-cost Single Touch Payroll solutions

The ATO have asked software developers to build low-cost Single Touch Payroll solutions (less than $10 per month).

Micro employers (1–4 employees) will also have a number of alternate options. One option includes initially allowing your registered tax or BAS agent to report quarterly, rather than each time you run your payroll.

It is expected that a range of simple, low-cost Single Touch Payroll (STP) solutions will be available in the market from early 2019. These will best suit micro employers who need to report through STP, but do not currently have payroll software.

In response to the market request by the ATO, 31 companies have put forward product proposals to offer low-cost STP solutions. The solutions are required to be affordable, take only minutes to complete each pay period and not require the employer to maintain the software.

These solutions may include mobile apps, simple reporting solutions and portals.

The ATO have published a list of the companies intending to offer these solutions.

Griffin & Associates

For more information on how Griffin & Associates can assist with your compliance requirements, visit our Taxation & Compliance page.

Source: Australian Taxation Office