Payroll Activity Statement does not balance with Payroll Reporting

I have just redone a $0 payrun and it has finally taken.  (that was my third)!!

It balances now - thank you

My Activity Statement does not balance with Payroll reporting.  I had to reverse a payroll payment, it shows in the balance on an activity statement but when checking the amounts reported to the ATO it hasn't come off the employees balance.  It is now just sitting in the prepare electronic payments area - I can't delete it, I can't reverse it from that area (very annoying).  What do I need to do to make it balance - the activity statement is correct.

Hi swatts11 

Thanks for your post. If you haven't processed another payrun since reversing that pay you will need to process a $0 pay for the YTD change to be reported through STP. STP updates the YTD amounts each time you declare a payrun, and as a reversal is not processed through payroll or declared through STP it will not affect the YTD amounts in the reporting centre. Processing a normal payrun or a $0 pay will update and correct the YTD amounts through STP.

If the original payment was processed in the Electronic Payments Window and an ABA file was created, the payment would have been transferred from the electronic clearing account to the bank account. You can go to the Electronic Payments window and create an ABA file for the reversal, transferring it to the bank account. You will now be able to match the original payment with the reversal in the Reconcile Accounts window, clearing each other out.

If the original payment is still in the Electronic Payments window, select both the payment and the reversal and create the ABA to clear those transactions from that window.

Please let me know if you need further help.

If my response has answered your enquiry please click "Accept as Solution" to assist other users find this information.

This does not work.  The reversal is still in electronics payments area and cannot be removed.  My balance on account summary (which is correct) does not match what is reported to the tax office.  How do I fix this???

Hi swatts11 

Can you please clarify what steps you have taken to fix these issues and what doesn't work? These are two separate issues that need to be fixed individually.

1. YTD amounts aren't correct in STP. If your YTD amounts in STP don't match your Payroll Activity summary report:

• run the Payroll Register summary report, is it the same as the Activity summary? If it is, process a $0 pay, declare and send that report. Once it has been accepted by the ATO check the YTD amounts in the STP reports.
• if the Activity and Register summary reports are not the same a change has been made to the Pay History in the employee card. If the Pay History has been changed you will need to change it back to what it was, then process a $0 pay to send the correct amounts through STP

2. Reversal in electronic payments window. What do you mean by this cannot be removed? What happens if you tick the transaction and click Create Bank File? As it is a negative transaction a bank file will not actually be created, the transaction will just be recorded in the software. That transaction is simply moving the amount from electronic clearing account to the bank account so that it can be reconciled. Deleting or reversing the reversal in the electronic payments window will cause more problems. Are there two withdrawals for this pay in the Reconcile Accounts window? If so, following the steps above will remove the reversal from the electronic payments window and put one deposit in the Reconcile Accounts window to match with one withdrawal. The other withdrawal will match be actual payment from the bank account. 

If you can give me detailed information I will be able to assist you better.

Please do let me know how you go with this.

The Activity and register report are the same.  This pay was done back in July last year and was reversed in July last year.  There have been numerous payrolls done since then but it still does not balance with the ATO.

Hi swatts11 

If that pay was reversed in July then it won't be the reversal that is causing the out of balance in STP, it will most likely be an incorrect ATO reporting category or a payroll category that has been ticked exempt from PAYG. STP reports use the ATO reporting categories to filter data. For example, if a Wages payroll category is assigned the Not Reportable ATO reporting category it will appear in MYOB reports under Gross wages but will not appear in STP reports.

Run the Payroll Activity Detail report, check the payroll categories in this report against the categories in the EOFY verification report. You should be able to determine which category is causing the issue by looking for the out of balance amount. Once you know what the payroll category is you will need to make any required corrections and process a $0 pay to update STP. 

Can you also please clarify that when you say it does not balance with the ATO you are referrring to the the STP reports in the Payroll Reporting Centre?

Yes I am referring to the STP reports I am referring to.

I have run the Activity detail report, I have also run the EOFY Verification report all categories are being reported correctly.

I have run several payrolls since this but it is still not balancing.