The reporting requirements of Single Touch Payroll are expanding from 1 January 2022.  The benefits of the ‘STP Phase 2’ expansion include the streamlining of reporting obligations of payers and payees, and removing the need for manual reporting to other government agencies.

Employers will need to report additional payroll information in their STP reports including:

• disaggregation of gross amounts (including separate reporting of paid leave, allowances, overtime, directors’ fees and salary sacrifice amounts);
• employment and taxation conditions (including information from the TFN declaration); and
• income types (for example, salary and wages, working holiday maker income, foreign employment income).

To support employers with the move to STP Phase 2 reporting, the ATO will take the following approach:

• Employers that can start Phase 2 reporting by their digital service provider’s deferral date (if applicable), do not need to apply to the ATO for more time.
• If an employer’s software will be ready for 1 January 2022 and they are able to start reporting before 1 March 2022, they do not need to apply to the ATO for more time (that is, an automatic extension applies).

The ATO has also advised that penalties will not be applied for genuine mistakes in the first year of Phase 2 reporting until 31 December 2022.

We advise QBO payroll users that the program will be STP Phase 2 compliant from the 1 January start date.  To implement Phase 2 reporting, payroll officers will need to review and update various settings and employee details within the program.

Please contact our office if you require assistance preparing your program for STP Phase 2!