From 1 January 2022 the ATO will be expanding the information provided with filing of STP payrolls each pay period.
For most of our businesses, this shouldn’t require too much change in your systems – for those businesses on Xero or MYOB. Those software subscriptions will update their systems.
The biggest changes are:
- You will no longer need to submit TFN declaration forms to the ATO within 28 days after the employee commences work. All the information the ATO requires will be sent with the STP. Note that you should still request the employee to complete one so that you have a record of what tax rate to charge, and their tax details, but you just keep it with the employee’s filing records.
- The splitting of your gross pay into its various parts – allowances, salary sacrifice, MV reimbursement etc etc
- Child support payments you have the option to include this information in the STP report. The ATO says this will reduce the need for separate remittance advice reporting to the Child Support Registrar (no idea yet exactly what this means – it doesn’t say you don’t have to report at all)
- Lump Sum E reporting you can specify the exact year/s the back payment is covering, when you file the STP
This will be massive data that the ATO is getting on a regular basis, much more than shows on the annual Income Statement (Payment Summary).
As the amount of payroll data available to the ATO is increasing each year, it is even riskier to pay your superannuation late. I can see the day coming when automatic fines/compulsory guarantee charge (SGC) notices will be imposed by the ATO when superannuation is paid late, even if you are only paying for a ‘Mum and Dad’ super contribution for a company or trust. Please don’t take the risk of running late a full quarter – keep your cash flow even and pay monthly (or even with each payroll), and pay with the last payroll in the month, and you should never have to pay SGC late fees.
