Happy New Financial Year!

It’s that time again!

In NSW, we find ourselves in lockdown and grappling with managing our business operations as well as staying on top of the periodic obligations imposed by the Australian Taxation Office (ATO). If you need any assistance or guidance during these challenging times please do not hesitate to reach out to our team at SaabTeece. We are always here to assist by putting in place the necessary resources to continue to service you whilst we are also in lockdown.

One necessary obligation that requires attention is Single Touch Payroll (STP) end of financial year finalisation. The ATO recognises the impacts of COVID-19 on the Australian community at present. 

End-of-year Finalisation

• You will need to process your STP End-of-year finalisation in your Payroll Software (Xero, MYOB etc).
• You need to make a finalisation declaration by 14 July, however if your business is impacted by Covid-19 you have up until 31 July.
• If your business only employs closely held employees (ie. you and your family members) you have until 30 September. If you are not yet using STP as yet, you will need to prepare your PAYG Summaries as usual.
• Once you have made your finalisation declaration, you will need to notify your staff that their income statement will be available to them through MyGov or their Tax Agent.

Making a finalisation declaration

• Before making your finalisation declaration, make sure your STP information is correct.
• You make a finalisation declaration by providing a finalisation indicator for an employee (and directors, contractors, etc.) as part of your STP reporting. You will need to ensure your payroll data is correct prior to submitting to the Australian Taxation Office.
• Once you have provided the finalisation indicator for the employee, the tax office will pre-fill the employee's income tax return and display the information as 'tax ready' in myGov.
• You may be subject to a penalty if you do not make a finalisation declaration by the due date.

Your options:

Option 1 – Manage the end-of-year finalisation process yourself:

• Once you have opted into STP and filed all pay runs for the financial year, you can finalise STP by following the steps per your accounting software.

Option 2 - SaabTeece manages the process for you:

• Please let us know your intention that you would like us to assist with making the end-of-year finalisation declaration with STP by clicking the link below
• We will assist our engaged clients with this process and will prepare an engagement letter fee proposal to cover:
• Review that your business details, including your ABN, registered name and address and authorised contact person are correct in your software.
• Review the necessary details for all employees, both current and any who have terminated throughout the year if you are using STP. The essential information is full name, date of birth, address and tax file number.
• Review any terminated employees. Is the correct termination date recorded in your software? Are there any Employment Termination Payments (ETPs)?
• Review salary sacrifice payments to superannuation for Reportable Employer Superannuation Contributions (RESC) amounts.
• Review any Reportable Fringe Benefit Tax (RFBT) amounts that should be included.
• Review that all payroll categories are assigned to the correct ATO reporting category. This includes all ordinary earnings, loadings and penalties, allowances, commissions, bonuses, leave payments and termination payments. You may have other unusual payroll categories—review that you have linked them correctly.
• Submit the end-of-year finalisation declaration to the Australian Taxation Office.

Our fee based on the number of employees:

• 1-3 employees -$385 + GST
• 4-8 employees - $550 + GST
• 9-19 employees - $825 + GST
• 20 + employees – POA

If you would like us to handle this process for you, please click here

For more information on STP Finalisation click here