The advent of Single Touch Payroll (STP) changes the employers’ method of processing and reporting their employees’ payroll. Business owners and payroll admins are now required to comply with the financial obligations per the Australian Taxation Office (ATO). Question is do you know your employee rights?
The main benefit of STP for employers is the streamlined structure of payroll reporting, How about the employees? Read on and learn the implications and their rights to STP.
You can access your payment information online.
Per the guidelines of the ATO on STP reporting, employers are not required to give their employees a summary of their end-of-year payment for the information they report via STP.
However, you can view your payment summary information in ATO online services once it is finalized by your employer. Your payment information will be labeled as ‘Tax ready’ in ATO online services.
It is important that employees acknowledge their employer to finalize their income statement with different amounts.
Employees may need to revise their tax return and further tax may be payable. You can also receive financial advice through MYOB and other services that can aid with this process.
If you can’t view your payment information through myGov, you can request the ATO to furnish you a copy of your income statement.
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You can view your year-to-date tax and super information via ATO online services.
If your employer reports through STP, you can view your year-to-date tax and super information by accessing ATO online services and logging onto myGov.
While a myGov account is not mandatory for employees, it is crucial to have one as it is the only way to access your tax and super information online. You only need a valid email address to create and manage your myGov account.
Note that your year-to-date information is the sum of the payments made by your employer since the beginning of the financial year. Also, the pay information you see in myGOV may not always match your payslip as ATO online services update your information a few days after your employer pays you.
You can verify if your super has been paid.
One of the advantages of AI-driven STP is its ability to identify potential threats on the submitted reports of employers such as financial anomaly and leakage of payroll data to unauthorized parties.
As an employee under STP, you have the right to know and verify whether your employers pay your super contributions. With your myGov account, you can see when your employer has made the payment.
Your registered tax agent can also view your STP information.
Your registered tax agent will determine whether your employer submits STP reports through the ATO. This is because your tax agent can also access your STP information to ready your tax return.
What to do if you have multiple employers (know your employee rights)
Note that if you have multiple employers, they may not all report your payment information via STP. Those employers who don’t report through STP are required now to give you a payment summary at the conclusion of the financial year.
For employers who report via STP, they do not need to give you a payment summary for the STP information they report. As mentioned, you can view your end-of-year income statement through your myGov account. MyGov is a secure way to access your payment information and other online government services. Employees are not required to create their respective myGov accounts but are encouraged to do so as this is the only way that they can access their tax and super contributions.
It might lead to the question of what is adjusted gross income?
You are assured of a secured payment data.
STP-enabled software is crucial in STP reporting as it serves as the portal to submit and finalize reports to the ATO. Driven by artificial intelligence (AI), employees are assured that their personal and pay information are maintained with confidentiality and security. It means unauthorized access of information is prohibited and financial data are verified prior to posting it on your myGov account.
What STP means for employees.
STP is one of the advancements of technology and unlike a traditional payroll process, the STP system is entirely different mainly on how your employer reports your payment information such as tax and super.
While you’ll still be paid the same manner, your employer who reports through STP is required to adhere to the rules of STP reporting.
With streamlined reporting comes error-free reports, easy and accessible payment information online. As such, more time is given for more important work thus, increasing productivity in the workplace and promoting growth and opportunities to the business and to the employees.
Resistance to the change is inevitable, but with a better understanding of the benefits that STP offer, success awaits everyone in the business industry.
