Australia: Single Touch Payroll (STP) – Phase 2

‍Why Does ATO want to know the disaggregated income?

Different components of pay are treated differently by various laws – example, overtime is treated differently for superannuation guarantee, some kinds of leave are treated differently by Services Australia when determining an individual’s entitlements with the social security system. Reporting the disaggregated income means these components can be identified and treated correctly.

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Timing

Tax File Number (TFN) will no longer be reported to ATO once STP Phase 2 is commenced. Annual leave and sick leave are reported separately as Paid Leave. Paid public holidays are not reported separately from ordinary wages.

Unless covered by a deferral which allows for a longer time, employers can transition to STP Phase 2 reporting at any time before 1 March 2022.

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Reporting

As STP is year-to-date (YTD) reporting, generally on transitioning to STP Phase 2 employers should commence reporting the full year YTD figures for each disaggregated component. In some cases, the full YTD figures may not be available. The ATO is not expecting employers and agents to reconstruct pre-STP Phase 2 periods with new information or where the data is not available. 

Directors’ fees are specifically included in STP reporting and need to be reported separately in STP Phase 2.

The requirement is to report on or before the day a payment is made, regardless of frequency. This means if a payment is made weekly, reporting is required weekly, or if payment is only made annually, reporting is required annually.

Payers with closely held payees have been required to report through STP since 1 July 2021 and will be required to transition to STP Phase 2 along with all other employers.

All employers have been required to report using STP since 1 July 2019, regardless of how many employees they have, unless they have applied to the ATO and been granted an exemption. All employers will be required to transition to STP Phase 2.