Lodging your annual reports online
This section contains information on:
- ECI
- getting started
- end of year reports
- common errors
- backing up your data.
About ECI
If you have access to the internet, ECI can be used at any time to securely lodge your PAYG withholding annual reports online.
The advantages of using ECI are that:
- data quality problems are identified before you send your information
- you receive automatic acknowledgment with a reference number when we have successfully received your PAYG withholding annual report.
ECI is free to use. All you need is an ABN, compatible software, such as payroll software, and an AUSkey to ensure the security and privacy of the information you lodge.
If you do not have an ABN, you can apply online through the Australian Business Register website at abr.gov.au
Getting started
You'll need an AUSkey to access our online services.
AUSkeys protect your security and privacy when using our online services.
You'll also need:
- your ABN
- internet access and an email account
- the ECI software.
You can download the ECI software from eci.ato.gov.au
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For more information about AUSkey, ECI and our other online services, refer to Online Services.
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Running ECI
For Windows users, select:
- Start
- Programs
- Electronic Commerce Interface
- ECI ClientV5 or ECI ClientV6.
For Macintosh users:
- save the ECI ClientV5 or ECI ClientV6 icon to a location on your computer
- double click on ECI ClientV5 or ECI ClientV6 icon.
End of year reports
At the end of the financial year, after you have printed and supplied your payees with their payment summaries, run an end of year report from your software. Depending on the reports you have used, they will be saved to your hard drive as:
- EMPDUPE file for a PAYG withholding payment summary annual report
- NOABN file for a PAYG withholding where ABN not quoted - annual report
- FRW file for a PAYG withholding annual report - payments to foreign residents.
Checking your files online (using the internet)
Within ECI, navigate to the Business/Payment summary report menu, then locate the relevant file using the Find button. Click Send File to transmit the file to us. ECI will check your file for errors and, if there are no errors, validate your file. You will receive a reference number as confirmation that you have transmitted the file to us.
Checking your files offline (not using the internet)
You can validate your files at any time using the ECI payment summary report menu. Locate the file, then click Check File, which will validate the data. If there are any errors or warning messages in your file, you will be provided with a report. Click View Error File to see your report.
Errors must be corrected before you will be able to transmit the file to us online. Make the corrections to the file in your payroll software and resubmit it through ECI. Warning messages will not prevent you from sending a file to us online - though we recommend that you review the file so you can make any necessary corrections before sending it to us.
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For more information, including step-by-step instructions on lodging your PAYG withholding annual reports through ECI, refer to eci.ato.gov.au
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Common errors
Table 1 lists some of the common errors that may occur when lodging online and how to avoid them.
Table 1: Common errors when lodging online
Error
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Action Required
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The annual report file cannot be located on the hard drive (EMPDUPE, NOABN or FRW)
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You must use a complying payroll software product to generate the annual report file.
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The word 'NULL' is displayed when trying to locate a file (for example, EMPDUPE or NOABN) on your computer hard drive
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Perform an ECI application update for the business function first (for example, PAYG Payment Summary Report).
If you have already updated the application, type the full path of the file then select Check File.
If this does not work, contact your software provider.
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Income amount fields - invalid characters
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Remove blanks or non-numeric characters.
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Tax withheld
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The tax withheld must be less than or equal to the sum of the income fields in the payment summary reported.
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Amendment indicator
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The Amendment indicator field must not be blank.
The Amendment indicator field must contain either A or O. If another indicator is in this field contact your software provider.
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Supplier contact details (the supplier contact is the person lodging the report)
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The supplier contact name and contact phone number must be completed. Refer to your software product manual or contact your software provider to find out where to enter the supplier information within the payroll product.
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ECI Error Message SS - E039
We could not accept the file as you are not authorised to return files for the ABN contained in the file
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Check that the ABN recorded in the activated AUSkey matches the ABN in the supplier data record of the file being sent.
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ECI Error Message - E912
The ECI Client was unable to establish a connection to the ATO.
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Check that you have a live internet connection when transmitting the ECI report.
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Backing up your data
You should always create back-up files of your annual report. If we reject the information you lodge or you need to access data, for example, for a payee who has lost a payment summary, you may need to reload your data. You also need to keep a copy of your annual report to meet our record keeping requirements. Contact your software provider for assistance with backups.
Last Modified: Thursday, 15 November 2012