Requirements for an STP report
An STP report must meet some minimum requirements. Your payroll solution will ensure you meet them, as you will not be able to lodge your STP report otherwise.
The minimum requirements for an STP report are:
- Your STP report must contain at least one employee record.
- Your STP report can only include one record per payee identity (combination of Payroll ID and payee details such as TFN, name, date of birth)
- if you establish 2 payroll records for an individual, you can report these payments within the same pay event by using unique Payroll IDs
- you must report separate YTD amounts for each unique Payroll ID for an employee.
- You must report period gross salary or wages (BAS label W1) and PAYG withholding (BAS label W2) for all employee payments included in that pay event. These amounts
- are your 'employer-level amounts'
- may be negative because of fixes you've made
- would generally correspond to the amounts you posted to your general ledger for the pay run.
- If your payroll solution offers the functionality to report child support amounts and you choose to use it, you must also include your total period amounts for each child support type.
When your STP report is due
Your STP report is due on or before the pay day. The pay day is either the payment date stipulated in the electronic transaction to your financial institution or, if you did not specify a date for payment, the date you intend to make the payment into your employee's bank account.
You may lodge multiple STP reports on the same day. Your system will generate a time stamp to identify the latest record for each financial year and ensure the employee’s myGov display recognises the latest record.
There are concessional reporting arrangements which provide a later due date in some circumstances.
Out-of-cycle reporting
You may make payments to employees other than as part of their regular pay cycle, for example when you pay commissions, bonuses, payments in advance or back payments to your employees.
These payments may be reported by either:
- lodging a pay event on or before the pay day you made the payment
- including the out-of-cycle payment made to the employee in the next regular pay event you lodge if your payroll solution offers this functionality. If the next regular pay cycle is in the following financial year, you must report the payment by 30 June in the year the payment was made before you finalise.
This is distinct from an ad hoc payment that is generally either run as a calculation simulation or as an advance of the regular salary (which is deemed as a loan) and should be reported at the time the actual salary is calculated.
Example: out-of-cycle reporting
A software company pays its employees monthly. The employment agreement stipulates that employees should receive their pay on the 15th of every month.
On 30 March, Matthew, an employee of the company, earns a commission of $1,000. On 31 March, the company processes Matthew's commission through payroll.
The company has 2 options to report the payment made to Matthew, either:
- report this payment to Matthew through a separate pay event (that is, not the regular 15th of the month pay event)
- include the commission payment to Matthew when it lodges the next regular pay event (the pay event with the pay date 15 April).
Note: Some STP-enabled solutions may not offer both options.
End of exampleWho you include in your STP report
Your STP report must include each employee you've made a payment to that is mandatory for you to report.
Your STP report may also include information for other employees, such as:
- those you've made a payment to that is voluntary to report
- those who've been reported earlier during the financial year but did not receive a payment for this pay period.