The Single Touch Payroll (STP) may have been looming for the past years, but now, it is in effect, at least for companies that have more than 20 employees. But whenever you are going to deal with STP reporting and there is a deadline coming, it is always a good idea to ask an STP payroll specialist Canberra. Enquire now for our payroll services in Canberra.
Hiring a specialist, you will get to make sure that you minimise the number of mistakes that you make. Basically, it becomes easier for you to comply with the ATO standards. By now, it is possible that you already know that you will need to have the Single Touch Payroll in your payroll software. This has been in effect since July 1, 2018, for businesses that have 20 employees or more.
What Makes STP a Good Thing?
The good thing about STP is that it has the ability to streamline the process of reporting the payments made on your employees. It allows businesses to submit payroll information from salaries to allowances deductions, superannuation payment.
What it can do is that it can help minimise the errors. The activity statements are labelled to make things easier for employers. With a decrease in human error, it avoids employees from getting penalties. Also, for those summaries, STP can also help eliminate those. There will no longer be a need for the payment summaries to be submitted to employees, which means that it can help save time.
Expansion of STP
If you have a company with 19 workers or less (head count includes also former employees), for now, you voluntary may submit STP readiness. However, these small businesses are highly encouraged to adopt. There is a possibility that 730,000 businesses will be added to the system. That is a huge number starting from 45,000 from the initial STP campaign by ATO.
According to payroll experts, it is important for businesses to stay ahead of the curve by adapting the STP even if they aren’t affected yet. This will prevent delays in case ATO wanted smaller businesses to implement the STP. For some critics of this move, they believe that it looks something that is rushed.
The Challenge for Small Businesses
It is a problem for a lot of small businesses especially those companies that aren’t running a digital payroll system. Now, they will have to spend on software like Xero and ask the software provider if STP can be integrated into it.
Though there has been some interest by the tax office to help businesses, it seems that there really is no concrete move on the part of the office how to do this. In order to address different concerns regarding the STP, there will be common questions posted by the agency. However, this hasn’t materialised until today.
Hiring a Single Touch Payroll Expert in Canberra
Keep in mind that it is a tricky process. You will have to make sure that you are going to comply with the STP if you don’t want your business to get into trouble. If you are running a small business and don’t know exactly where to start, it might be a good idea that you get the help of experts who can guide you from start to finish.
It is possible that the payroll package to start at $50. Also, if you are running a business with just 1 to 4 employees, it might be a good idea that you turn to low-cost STP solutions. There are those software developers today that are looking to develop a solution for $30.
Now, it doesn’t mean that you are all set to go if you paid this amount. You will still have to get to know the system first. Make sure vital accounts are reconcile and up to date. This includes (but not limiting to) PAYGW, Superannuation, leave entitlements etc. Compliance can be quite difficult at first. And for this reason, you will have the experts to guide you which ones to include in the STP and which ones you shouldn’t be including.
Why Get an Expert?
There are companies that have employees set in their ways. It means that, it may takes time before they get used to a new system. So what if they aren’t used to doing things the digital way? This means that it is time that you get the necessary help that you need. Here, they can be trained or the expert does the work for you.
A business can always ask a third party to report on their behalf. What it means is that you don’t have to worry anymore.
Related Tag: Payroll Services Canberra
