For those of you that don’t know, STP (single touch payroll) makes payroll reporting much easier for your employer, and it changes the way your salary is recorded. If your place of work, has 20+ employees, your employer probably started using STP from July last year, or from the 1st of July this year, if your workplace has less than 20 employees.
In this article today, we will go through everything you need to know about single touch payroll.
Instead of torturing themselves with a pile of paperwork, your employer will simply report the payroll details of employees to the ATO (Australian Tax Office) on each pay day, or a day before. This is done with a special payroll software which sends the payroll and superannuation details directly to the ATO.
You will still get paid in the same way and all the details of your paycheck will go directly to the ATO on every pay day instead of once at the end of each year.
Income Statements will replace your PAYG
A big change with the single touch payroll is that your employer won’t have to provide a group certificate or PAYG summary at the end of each year.
The PAYG is now an income statement, which is not a document and you will probably not get it. Anyhow, this doesn’t matter for you, as it won’t change anything in terms of your tax refund, as you don’t really need a summary to do your tax refund. The Syndeo Group, or any tax agent will have access to the summary in your ATO file and just add it to your tax return automatically.
Also, you might not get any more regular pay slips. Instead, you will be able to access your pay details at any time via the myGov portal.
If you are worried about your tax return, you can relax as the Syndeo Group has you covered. We understand that a new system might feel a bit uncomfortable, especially when your salary is involved. Single touch payroll is actually really straightforward, and the best part is that we have it covered.
The Syndeo Group gets all the necessary info for your tax return automatically from your file at the ATO, so you don’t need any statements or use the myGov portal. Of course, you can always use the portal for your personal records, just to keep track of your income.
To sum up, when you start filling out your tax return form, all the info should populate automatically. In case you need a hand with this, your Syndeo Group accountant is always available to answer any questions and help you get the best out of your annual tax return.
