In this edition:

Welcome

Single Touch Payroll starts 1st July

The ATO's FBT hot spots

Small business benchmarks

Franking credits and your SMSF

Tax tips for Airbnb

Single Touch Payroll starts 1st July

The ATO has introduced Single Touch Payroll reporting for employers. It starts from 1 July 2018 for employers with 20 or more employees.

Employers will report payments such as salaries and wages, pay as you go (PAYG) withholding and superannuation information from your payroll solution each time you pay employees.

Single Touch Payroll will be expanded to include employers with 19 or less employees from 1 July 2019. This is subject to legislation being passed in parliament.

Many employers will be required to update their existing payroll software to a version that is Single Touch Payroll compatible.

How to count your employees

Include in headcount:

• full-time employees
• part-time employees
• casual employees and seasonal workers who are on your payroll on 1 April and worked any time during March. There are exemptions to counting seasonal workers who were employed for a short-time only.
• employees based overseas
• any employee absent or on leave (paid or unpaid).

Don't include in headcount:

• any employees who ceased work before 1 April
• casual employees who did not work in March
• independent contractors
• staff provided by a third-party labour hire organisation
• company directors
• office holders
• religious practitioners

Directors, office holders and religious practitioners are not included in the headcount. They are not considered employees within the common law meaning of the term.

However, when you start reporting through STP you will need to report their payment information. This is because the payments are subject to withholding and are currently reported in the Individual non-business payment summary.

The ATOs About Single Touch Payroll information contains details and links to factsheets to assist with the process. 

Goodwin Chivas can also provide guidance and assistance to ensure that our clients are ready for the change. Please contact us for assistance.