STP is a government initiative that requires all employers to report payroll information to the Australian Taxation Office (ATO). It involves electronically reporting your employees’ payroll information to the ATO each payroll cycle, whether you pay weekly, fortnightly or monthly. STP is mandatory from 1 July 2019, and all Australian businesses must comply by 30 September 2019.  

Single Touch Payroll (STP) uses internet cloud accounting software to submit information to the tax office online.  Employers can automate and streamline their processes and keep their accounting data accurate and up-to-date. Having better and timely information at their disposal enables them to make better-informed business decisions as well as sharing essential payroll information with the ATO more easily.

- One-click compliance
- No more EOFY summaries
- Error-free payroll
- Employee access to payslips

Single Touch Payroll (STP) means businesses don’t need to complete payment summaries and group certificates at the end of financial year. STP software automatically sends your employees’ tax and superannuation information to the ATO.

STP helps employees, too. They no longer have to wait until EOFY to see their tax information. Their details - salary, PAYG withholding and super— is readily available via their myGov account. 

On top of that, STP enables eligible businesses impacted by Covid-19 to access a temporary JobKeeper payment in order to carry on paying their employees.

Yes, if you have employees Single Touch Payroll (STP) applies to your small business. In fact, all Australian businesses with a payroll function must use STP. From 1 July 2019, STP became mandatory for organisations of all sizes, even those with fewer than four employees. You must comply no later than 30 September 2019. 

Single Touch Payroll (STP) will impact more than 100,000 employers and about 13 million employees. If you’re an accountant, it isn’t just a big change in reporting – it could change the conversation between you and your clients. 

You may find your clients take greater ownership of their accounting data, knowing that it is being transmitted to the ATO each pay run. This could mean they no longer rely on you to fix their errors at the end of the year, leaving you with more time for planning. Which is something your clients are happy to pay for you to do, too!