Start getting ready for Single Touch Payroll reporting (Australia)
If you have 20 or more employees, you’ll soon need to start reporting payroll and super information to the ATO using Single Touch Payroll. Start getting ready now, so you can hit the ground running.
Payroll Reporting button in Payroll command centre
Click Payroll Reporting in the Payroll command centre, for all things Single Touch Payroll. Here you can check that your employee and company details meet ATO requirements.
Payroll Reporting on the Payroll command centre
Payroll reporting window
There are a few important things to note in the new Payroll Reporting window, to help you get started with Single Touch Payroll reporting.
Payroll Reporting window
- A - Company Information View and update the company information that is reported to the ATO with your Single Touch Payroll information.
- B - Check Payroll Details This is the first step to get your payroll information ready. Click to check that all employee and company information meets ATO requirements.
- C - View Payroll Categories View all your payroll categories and what ATO reporting category they are assigned to. From here you can open, and then edit each payroll category.
- D - Connect to the ATO When ready, this is where you’ll be able to make the connection to the ATO for Single Touch Payroll. We’ll let you know when this is available, but in the meantime, you can click Learn More for a preview of the steps.
Company Information
View and edit the company information that’s sent to the ATO when using Single Touch Payroll reporting. This is not the same as what’s in Setup > Company Information.
Check payroll details results
To help you see what specific employee and company information doesn't meet ATO guidelines or is missing, a list of things that need to be fixed is listed. All of these items need to be fixed before you can connect to the ATO and start reporting.
The list includes:
- Where to update – either employee cards or company information.
- Details – the name of the employee or the field from the company information that needs updating.
- Error – what needs to be fixed.
Check Payroll Details results
Compare payroll categories with assigned ATO reporting categories
To get an overview of what payroll categories are assigned to what ATO reporting categories, we’ve added a column to the Payroll Category List.
Also, the label STP category has been changed to ATO Reporting Category to make it clearer this information is sent to the ATO as part of Single Touch Payroll.
All categories are assigned to Not Reportable by default, so you’ll need to open each and change them to the correct category.
List of payroll categories
Here’s what else we improved and fixed
Card Files
- New: There are new validation rules for employee cards. State is now mandatory if the
country is blank or Australia. This applies to importing, add-ons and API connected solutions.
GST and provisional tax (New Zealand)
- Improved: In the Accounts command centre, the button Prepare GST Return has changed to GST & Provisional Tax as you can now prepare and file the Statement of Activity (using the accounting income method) for provisional tax.
Lists
- New: There are new columns to choose from when viewing items in the Items List. The following fields are now available from the Field Chooser: Primary Supplier, Custom List 1, Custom List 2, Custom List 3, Custom Field 1, Custom Field 2 and Custom Field 3, Supplier, Item Number, and Minimum Stock Reorder quantity. Idea: Inventory: Items List- Add Customer Column
Payroll (Australia)
- Improved: When recording a pay, the wording in the confirmation window has been improved to make it clearer.
- New: Save your progress when editing your employees' pays when processing a pay run. The Employee Pays step of the Process Payroll Assistant now has a Close & Save button - so you can save your progress and finish the pay later.
Sales and purchases
- Improvement: When emailing an invoice, quote or order, the character limit of the message has been increased to 4000 characters, to align with what can be entered in the default message. Idea: More text space to type message when emailing and Idea: Email message content + Email statement templates
- Fixed: There was an issue when reversing a time billing invoice where the activity slip would not appear in the list of open work in progress. This is fixed.
- New: If you have an Officeworks business account, you can register to get all your invoices automatically entered into MYOB for you. Set this up via your Officeworks 30 Day Business Account.
- Improved: We've made some improvements to the Optical Character Recognition (OCR) technology used to identify key information in invoices sent to you via the In Tray. This means faster and more accurate transactions.
Usability and UI
- Improved: Some calendars have been tweaked to make it easier to select dates.
- Improved: The width of the Purchases window is increased to let you see more information when entering or viewing purchases
- Fixed: We’ve fixed an issue where some keyboard shortcuts weren't working properly.
Known issues
Can’t edit or save an employee card (New Zealand)
When you try and create or edit an employee card, and the Country is set to blank or Australia, you won’t be able to save it. This also prevents the importing of employee cards using the Import/Export Assistant, and affects the API.
Workaround: Select a country other than blank or Australia (for example, New Zealand), and save.
