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Lost or missing payment summary

What to do if your employer hasn't provided you a payment summary or you can't find it.

Last updated 10 June 2024

Changes to payment summaries

Most employers now report your income and pay your tax and super directly each pay day through Single Touch Payroll (STP).

You may not receive a payment summary from your employer if they are reporting through STP. Instead, you get an income statement through ATO online services in myGov.

There is no requirement for your employer to give you a payment summary if they report through STP. If your employer is not yet reporting through STP they will continue to provide you with a payment summary by 14 July.

If you have more than one employer, you may receive both an income statement and a payment summary.

Lost, missing or destroyed payment summary

If your payment summary is lost, missing or destroyed you can get the information you need by:

  • requesting a copy from your employer or payer
  • requesting a letter from your employer or payer stating details of your income and the amount of tax withheld
  • using the prefilling service to automatically load your payment summary and other information into your tax return using myTax
  • reviewing your payslips, timesheets and bank statements.

You no longer require a statutory declaration where you don't have a copy of your payment summary.

If you are unable to get accurate information from these sources, you will need to estimate your income and withholding details. Include the estimates in your tax return.

Use our gross pay estimator, to help you estimate your income. This will give you an estimate of your gross pay using your net pay for a particular pay period, either weekly, fortnightly or monthly.

Gross pay estimator

Incorrect payment summary

If your payment summary information is incorrect, you should contact your employer (or employers). If they have made an error, they can usually correct it.

If you find your payment summary

If you find your payment summary and haven't lodged your tax return, make sure you use the amounts shown on your payment summary.

If you have already lodged your tax return and the amounts on your payment summary are different, you must request an amendment to your tax return.

Keeping your records

In order to prepare and lodge an accurate tax return and support the claims you make, you need to keep thorough records.

You need to be able to show how you arrived at the income and tax withheld figures. In some cases, you may need to provide written evidence of how you work out the figures, if we ask you.

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