Changes to STP reporting
From 1 July 2026, employers with a withholding payer number (WPN) who choose to report in Single Touch Payroll (STP) will only be able to lodge through an authorised representative, such as a registered tax agent or BAS agent.
These changes are being made as part of our ongoing work to improve and strengthen our authentication and authorisation processes.
The current exemption from STP reporting still applies.
What you need to do
If you hold a WPN and already report STP through an authorised representative you don't need to make any changes.
If you currently report STP (but not through an authorised representative) you can:
- engage an authorised representative to report STP on your behalf
- stop your STP reporting and move to pay as you go (PAYG) payment summaries.
Stopping your STP reporting
Employers with a WPN are exempt from STP reporting until 30 June 2033.
Employers with a WPN who decide to stop their STP reporting will still need to meet their pay as you go (PAYG) withholding obligations. You can do this by:
- giving PAYG withholding payment summaries to your employees
- lodging a PAYG payment summary annual report to us at the end of each financial year.
If you report STP for the full 2025–26 financial year, you should:
- finalise your STP reporting on 30 June 2026 by 14 July 2026
- move to payment summaries for payments made from 1 July 2026.
What we recommend
Where you move from STP reporting to PAYG payment summaries part way through the 2025–26 financial year, the following approach provides the best experience for your employees:
- Zero out your STP reporting and finalise. This involves sending us an update event that shows all year to date (YTD) amounts for your employees as zero.
- Ensure you include a finalisation declaration.
- Inform your employees of the change from STP reporting to PAYG payment summaries.
- Provide a payment summary and lodge a PAYG annual report for all payments made to your employees for the full financial year.
Following this approach will mean:
- your employees' income will not be overstated at the end of the financial year when they lodge their income tax return
- even though there is no requirement for an employer to finalise an income statement with zero YTD amounts reported, doing so will help limit confusion or questions raised by your employees
- the PAYG withholding payment summary you provide your employees should include all amounts paid to them for the full financial year
- we'll use amounts reported through the payment summary annual report to prefill each employee's income tax return.
Combining STP reporting and payment summaries
If you're unable to zero out your STP reporting, you'll report part of the year through STP and the remainder through a payment summary. This means that your employees' full year of income will be split between their income statement and their payment summary.
Employees will only see the STP reported amounts in their income statement which is available in ATO online services. This won't include the information reported in the payment summary.
You will need to provide your employees with a payment summary for only the amounts that were not reported via STP.
We'll use amounts reported through your STP and your payment summary annual report to prefill your employees' income tax return. However, employers have until:
- 14 July to finalise their STP reporting
- 14 August to submit their payment summary annual report.
This means pre-fill information may be available at different times. In this case, you should advise your employees to wait to lodge their income tax returns until after you have both finalised your STP reporting and submitted your payment summary annual report.