SINGLE TOUCH PAYROLL (STP) FINALISATION
It is that time of year again... it is STP (Single Touch Payroll) finalisation season!
If this is your first year as an employer, welcome! STP finalisation is basically how the ATO have final access to the wages, PAYG & super information for the year so employees can lodge their tax returns.
Employers reporting through STP need to make a finalisation declaration by the 14th of July to ensure your employees can access their finalised information to complete their tax return. It is super important to have this lodged before the due date and accurate to avoid penalties from the ATO.
To do this yourself - we have this covered in 3 easy steps!
Review. Reconcile. Process.
Step 1: Review
Check the Legal/Trading name, ABN and postal address (including postcode) are correct.
Check all employee details are correct.
Check all payroll settings are correct- review earnings and deductions.
Step 2: Reconcile
Check all pay runs for the financial ear have been posted and have a payment date within the financial year.
Check all wages have been paid through the business bank account and all payroll related transactions such as wages, PAYG and superannuation have been reconciled against the bank statement.
Run Payroll Activity Summary reports and General Ledger reports to check that the Wages, Allowances and Superannuation on the General Ledger Reports agree to the Payroll Activity Summary Report.
Step 3: Process
Go to Payroll Menu and select ‘Single Touch Payroll’
Click the finalisation tab and check the tax year is set to the correct financial year.
Check all employees that require STP finalisation are appearing in the list. Also select ‘Show Terminated Employees for RFBA’.
Review each employee’s year to date summary for accuracy, and enter any required Reportable Fringe Benefits Amounts.
Select the employees to finalise and export the data to CSV by clicking Export to CSV (for record keeping).
Click Finalise and submit to ATO.
For additional information - XERO has created the ultimate EOFY payroll checklist. Click here to view.