What's new with Single Touch Payroll in KeyPay this Financial Year 19/20?

What’s new with Single Touch Payroll in KeyPay

End of Financial Year is finally over and we can all start to breathe again! It's been a crazy time of year, and Single Touch Payroll has only added to the magic of it all. Businesses with 19 or fewer employees will have begun reporting STP events from July 1 2019. We thought it may be useful to recap on STP and compile the relevant items you should be aware of this new financial year.

How to manage closely held employees

A closely held employee is one who is not "at arm's length". This means they are directly related to the entity from which they receive payments - such as family members of a family business, directors or shareholders of a company or beneficiaries of a trust. Here's how you and your clients can set up and manage closely held employees.

How TAX/BAS Agents can report STP on behalf of a micro employer

A micro employer is a business that has 1-4 employees. If a business meets the requirements of a micro employer, they may be eligible for a quarterly reporting concession for the 2019/2020 FY. In order to utilise the quarterly reporting concession, a micro employer is required to use a registered TAX/BAS agent to lodge submissions on their behalf. Once the business has been granted quarterly reporting permission as an eligible micro employer, the registered TAX/BAS agent can then follow this procedure in KeyPay.

WPN holders and STP

WPN holders are exempt from reporting STP for this financial year. As such and at present, WPN holders are unable to lodge events using KeyPay. WPN holders wanting to lodge STP events will need to use a registered Tax/BAS Agent. The ability for WPN holders to lodge events will be available from 1 July 2020.

Key things to highlight for KeyPay's STP functionality

  • Users can no longer delete any pay schedules or employing entities if they have been previously used in a finalised pay run. This decision was reached due to the flow on effects and extensive troubleshooting required to fix any payroll data subsequently reported via STP. Additionally, it also ensures historic payroll reporting is not affected in general.
  • We no longer allow users to change the BMS ID when transferring over to KeyPay from another payroll software. We have detailed all the current transition options available to you. Rest assured, we are also working on a solution to safely allow the bringing across of another payroll software's BMS IDs without causing the duplication of records.
  • Payroll data in STP events will no longer be truncated. Although the ATO allows payroll data to be rounded when reporting STP events, we have decided to change how we report the figures. Upon consultation with the ATO, we will now report the exact payroll figures processed in the pay runs and entered in opening balances (ie we will not round up the data). This will also assist businesses when reconciling payroll data against STP events.
  • Users are unable to delete a pay run if it has an associated pay event that has successfully been lodged. There were numerous enough occasions of this occurring during last financial year to justify implementing this restriction, thereby stopping the ensuing chaos caused as a result with the data being reported via STP.
  • All businesses reporting STP no longer have the ability to perform any payment summary actions for that same financial year. That is, we have disabled the ability to download, publish and lodge payment summaries for any financial year you have reported STP, even if it's only one event. We have done this to stop actual scenarios whereby businesses lodge both PSARs and STP for the same financial year (thereby causing an over-reporting of data to the ATO). All historical payment summary data for other financial years is still available for businesses to access.

These updates to STP in KeyPay have been made to make your STP reporting experience as streamlined as possible. If you have any queries about creating and lodging events for STP, check out our STP guide, or get in touch.

Disclaimer: The information in this article is current as at 30 August 2022, and has been prepared by Webscale Pty Ltd (ABN 70-154-693-955) and its related bodies corporate (KeyPay). The views expressed in this article are general information only, are provided in good faith to assist employers and their employees, and should not be relied on as professional advice. The Information is based on data supplied by third parties. While such data is believed to be accurate, it has not been independently verified and no warranties are given that it is complete, accurate, up to date or fit for the purpose for which it is required. KeyPay does not accept responsibility for any inaccuracy in such data and is not liable for any loss or damages arising either directly or indirectly as a result of reliance on, use of or inability to use any information provided in this article. You should undertake your own research and to seek professional advice before making any decisions or relying on the information in this article.
Dimitra Karas

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