Single Touch Payroll (STP) 108-22070738

Single Touch Payroll (STP) is an Australian Government initiative where employers and organisations report payroll information to the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) via STP enabled software each time employees or other recipients are paid. This STP reported payroll information is known as a pay event. It can occur:

• weekly
• fortnightly
• monthly, or
• other frequencies

Reporting of pay events using disaggregated Phase 2 data became mandatory from 1 January 2022. From 31 August 2023, most employers and organisations have onboarded and are reporting Phase 2 payroll information through STP.

Services Australia can access the relevant payroll data of mutual clients required to administer the Social Security system. The agency accesses and calculates the required data from year-to-date (YTD) figures in near real time. Customers may have all, some, or none of their payroll details pre-filled for them when reporting. Where available, STP data pre-fills in customer reporting tools and can be viewed by Service Officers through Process Direct only. The Earnings and Reporting workflow in Process Direct must be used to process reports, and to view and update employment income paid in a past reporting period.

Customer obligations

Customers have control over their STP data. They are responsible for checking the pre-filled STP income details with their payslip when they report. Customers must review the pre-filled data and make changes (adjust and/or add details), if needed. When the customer is satisfied with the employment details, they must confirm the data before it is applied to their record. For more information about the online STP reporting process for customers, see Process > Table 3 of Single Touch Payroll (STP) processing.

The customer can then:

• manually add any other employment income details for themselves and their partner, and
• add hours worked, if needed (hours are not reported in STP data)

The pre-fill of STP data service simplifies the reporting of employment details but does not replace a customer's obligation to report all their circumstances accurately.

Customers cannot opt out of pre-filling of STP data.

Services Australia can access the STP data of customers who are a mutual client of the ATO and Services Australia. The data can include, but is not limited to:

• employer name and Australian Business Number (ABN) / Withholding Payer Number (WPN)
• employment commencement date
• employment status (full-time, part-time or casual)
• salary and wages
• allowances
• paid leave
• bonuses and commission
• voluntary superannuation deductions
• salary sacrifice deductions
• reportable fringe benefits
• workers’ compensation
• unused leave and redundancy payments
• employment cessation details

STP data does not include the:

• hours worked by the customer in the entitlement period. The customer must report the number of hours worked by themself and their partner (if applicable), if required for their income support payment. See Recording and correcting employment income details
• number of days relevant to paid leave and lump sum components reported via STP. The number of days is provided by the customer
• additional information required for certain STP income components. For example, if an allowance is a reimbursement of work-related expenses
• STP data of the partner. The customer must manually add any gross income paid to their partner in the entitlement period if required

The safety of customers’ information is Services Australia's priority.

Services Australia will always tell customers what it is collecting, why and who it will be shared with. The Privacy Act 1988 (Privacy Act) regulates how government agencies and some other organisations manage personal information.

Services Australia will only get the information needed, and customers can update their information if it is incorrect.

Customers can find out more about privacy on the Services Australia website.

Customers may be presented with an STP employer’s details in an online claim or when they report. Current customers will be presented with STP employer data reported in the entitlement period when they report.

Employer details presented to the customer during a claim or when reporting will include:

• employer/organisation’s name
• Australian Business Number (ABN) / Withholding Payer Number (WPN)

Customers are shown other trading names associated with the ABN/WPN to assist them to recognise the STP employer’s details. The customer must review the details and advise Yes or No to whether they are working for the STP employer.

Where the customer advises Yes to confirm the employer, the STP employer’s details can be linked with an existing employer from their record or create the employer as a new employer entry.

If the customer advises No as they do not work for the employer, Service Officers must ask further questions to understand the relationship between the customer and the STP employer. For more details, see Process > Table 1 in Single Touch Payroll (STP) troubleshooting.

When a current customer confirms an STP employer, STP pay events paid in the customer’s entitlement period may pre-fill in their report for the customer to check and confirm or change.

There may be cases where the pre-filled STP data does not match the gross amount that was paid in a customer’s reporting period. Pay event data may include more than one type of income component. Customers can check their payslip if they are unsure about the pre-filled STP details. They can adjust the information if it is incorrect and add any additional pay components that may not have pre-filled for that pay event. See Single Touch Payroll (STP) processing.

STP data can only be applied when it has been confirmed and accepted by the customer. The assessable income components are then automatically mapped to the appropriate screens on the customer’s record.

Services Australia uses the STP data reported for pay events paid by the STP employer to calculate a Pay Per Period (PayPP) amount.

This compares the gross year-to-date (YTD) figure of all income components from the previous pay event with that of the current pay event. The difference between these amounts is the PayPP amount and is shown on the STP Employer Wage Items (EMGI) screen as the Gross STP Income.

When presented with pre-filled STP data, customers must review the details against their payslip and make changes if needed before they confirm the information. Only assessable amounts are applied to the record and used to calculate a customer’s entitlement in the reporting period.

The Used in PayPP Calculation field on the EMGI screen shows whether a component is assessable or not with a Yes or No indicator.

For more details about the different types of income components, see Assessment of employment income for Centrelink payments. See Resources to view which allowances are assessable.

Customers reporting through their Centrelink online account or the Centrelink Express Plus mobile app are shown if an income component is assessable or not assessable. Only assessable components will pre-fill under My pay when entering the Report employment income service.

STP employers can change the STP data reported to the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) at any time. A change can be submitted for any STP pay event paid in the current or a previous financial year.

Change to STP data in the current financial year

Where an STP employer submits changes to the ATO for a pay event paid in the current Centrelink entitlement period before the customer completes their report, the customer will see the updated STP data pre-fill when they report.

Where an STP employer submits changes to the ATO for a pay event paid in a completed report, the customer may notice a discrepancy in the STP data when they next report. This is because the adjustment to the year-to-date (YTD) figure has a ripple effect on the YTD amounts reported for the following pay events.

Customers must adjust the pre-filled gross STP income amount (calculated PayPP Amount) to match their payslip, if needed.

Customers cannot see that STP data has been updated by the employer after they have completed their report. However, Service Officers may notice an additional pay event on the Pay Events table on the STP Employer Wage Items (EMGI) screen, with Pay Event Accepted as No.

Change to STP data for a previous financial year

Correction of STP payroll data reported by an STP employer may be necessary after a payment summary has been finalised.

Updates to the employee’s payment summary will automatically update the customer’s details in ATO myTax. The change may also require an update to the gross income reported in respect to the customer’s and/or their partner’s income support payment. A correction by a Service Officer to a pay event paid in a previous financial year, will automatically update the customer’s Services Australia payment summary in ATO myTax if arrears or a debt is calculated.

No action is required by Services Australia staff to issue updated payment summaries.

When current customers cease work with an STP employer, cessation data may pre-fill in the reporting task and include:

• the date they stopped work
• the reason they stopped work
• any unused leave and/or redundancy payment paid

Customers will be asked to give an explanation about stopping work in their reporting statement when:

• they are subject to mutual obligation requirements, and
• STP cessation data is pre-filled, and
• the STP employer advises the cessation reason is dismissal or voluntary

An unemployment failure must be generated for PST-skilled Service Officers to investigate.

When unused leave and/or redundancy payments are reported with cessation data, the customer is asked to give the number of days the leave covers or their average weekly wage, to determine the duration of any potential Income Maintenance Period (IMP). Service Officers must ensure that the leave period is reasonable. See Process > Table 6 > Item 14 in Single Touch Payroll (STP) processing.

When unused leave on termination is reported via STP, but no cessation date or cessation reason is included, a customer who reports online must answer if they still work for the employer. If they answer No, a new online task is created to provide an Employment Separation Certificate (SU001). See Employment Separation Certificate (SU001) for more details.

STP employers include an employee’s employment status (for example, full-time, part-time or casual) when reporting employment details to the Australian Taxation Office (ATO). This data is available to Services Australia but is not mapped to the record or used to make decisions about a customer’s ongoing qualification for payment.

Customers may have Employed full-time - Yes pre-filled with the STP employment details, for the first and second time it is reported by their employer. Customers can edit the full-time employment status, if needed. For more details, see Process > Table 3 > Item 3 in Single Touch Payroll (STP) processing.

Workers’ compensation payments paid by an STP employer or organisation, pre-fill as Paid leave - workers’ compensation.

The system will check for a previous assessment by the Compensation Recovery Team (CRT). Where there is an active compensation claim associated with the employer coded in the Compensation Management System (CMS), the amounts reported through STP will still pre-fill but are not applied to the record when confirmed.

Where there has not been a previous assessment of the workers’ compensation, the pre-filled compensation amount will map to the Employment Income Paid Details (EAPP) table for at least 2 fortnights when confirmed by the customer, until the compensation details are assessed in CMS. The customer will need to complete a Compensation and damages (MOD C) form. This can be completed verbally during the customer contact, or via a paper form. Customers reporting through their Centrelink online account or Express Plus Centrelink mobile app will have an online task created to submit a MOD C. See Process > Table 6 > Item 2 in Single Touch Payroll (STP) processing.

See Role of staff outside Compensation Teams for more information.

STP interventions aim to prevent underpayments and overpayments for customers with early education on correct reporting of employment details.

Compliance Officers (CO) manage intervention activities that are triggered when customers make certain variations to their STP data.

There are 6 STP intervention triggers that may be generated where a customer reports through self service, and:

• rejects an STP employer twice
• varies first income for an STP employer
• varies income down in 2 consecutive fortnights by more than $299
• varies income down in 2 non-consecutive fortnights across 6 months by more than $299  
• is receiving Disability Support Pension or Carer Payment and confirms full-time ongoing status (carer customer is not receiving ex-wife pension (XWP))
• is receiving Disability Support Pension or Carer Payment and rejects full-time ongoing status in 2 consecutive fortnights