How do the Single Touch Payroll changes affect employees?

You may have heard a lot about the recent changes regarding Single Touch Payroll (STP) for employers however little has been said about how these changes affect employees. We thought that we’d help to explain what these changes mean.

What is Single Touch Payroll?

Single Touch Payroll is an Australian Taxation Office (ATO) initiative aimed at streamlining the way employers report your tax and superannuation information to them.

What do you need to know?

Employers are now required to report your pay, tax and super information directly to the ATO each pay period, so you can find all your information in one place when you need it.

Employers are no longer obligated to provide you with year-end payment summaries (these used to be called group certificates) under the new Single Touch Payroll rules. Instead, you will get an end-of-year income statement through your MyGov Account or through us as your registered tax agent.

Your year-to-date pay and super information is available to you throughout the year. It’s important to wait until your employer finalises your income statement to make it ‘tax ready’ before we can lodge your tax return. Most employers have until 31 July to check their employee’s income statement and finalise it for the year.

If you use us as your registered tax agent to lodge your return, you don’t need to do anything. The ATO provides us with access to your information so we are fully equipped to lodge your tax return as usual.

We are very experienced in taxation legislation and happy to help you out. Give us a call on 1300 224 399 or contact us here.