Single Touch Payroll (STP) troubleshooting 108-24103134

Where STP data pre-fills in a customer’s report, it is a result of an identity match by the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) and Services Australia to ensure a high level of data integrity. STP data does not pre-fill in a report where there is missing data or inconsistencies with a probable record.

This gives a high level of confidence that the pre-filled STP details are accurate and displaying details for the correct person.

When an STP employer reports payroll data for a person who is on an income support payment, service profiling will place them on 2-weekly statement reporting where they are not already on reporting. For support with customer enquiries, see Process > Table 4 > Item 9 in Single Touch Payroll (STP) processing.

Service profiling can also take some customers off reporting. Customers with no mutual obligation requirements and where the customer and partner have no other employment income, will be taken off reporting or reverted to their prior reporting requirements:

• 6 fortnights after confirming their STP cessation details including the cessation date, or
• if there are no STP cessation details, after having no STP pay events for 6 consecutive fortnights

Note: if customers are automatically taken off reporting for the above reasons, or manually by a Service Officer, any later receipt of STP pay events will place the customer back on 2-weekly statement reporting.

Customers may be presented with STP employer details in an online claim or when they report. Current customers will be presented with any 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 for 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 confirm or reject they are working for the STP employer.

Where the customer confirms they are working for the employer, the STP employer’s details can be linked with an existing employer from their record or have a new employer entry created.

If the customer advises they do not work for the employer or business, Service Officers must ask further questions to understand the relationship between the customer and the STP employer. See Process > Table 1 for more details.

When customers report through online channels and STP data is available, their employment details will pre-fill in the STP confirmation service. This means online reporting will be a 2-step process.

The customer must review the pre-filled information, make any required changes and then accept the STP Declaration by selecting Submit and continue. The customer will then enter the Report employment income (REI) service to complete their reporting task. For more details, see Process > Table 3 in Single Touch Payroll (STP) processing.

If there is no STP data available at the time of reporting, the customer will enter directly into the REI service and can add any employment income details, including partner income (if applicable) and hours worked, if needed.

Demonstrations of online and staff assisted reporting are available under Employment Services on SDF Video Gallery - Power Apps. See Resources for a link.

STP data may be available to customers reporting via the Integrated Voice Response (IVR) channel.

The full range of functions available to customers reporting with STP data in online channels is not available for customers reporting via IVR. This may result in a hand off to a Service Officer, where a customer has certain STP components reported or needs to adjust or add certain STP income components in their entitlement period.

When a customer needs to report earlier than their usual reporting day due to a public holiday or overseas departure, any available STP data may pre-fill. If the employer has not yet run their payroll, the customer must manually add employment income that they expect to be paid in the full reporting period. This is no different to the process for customers reporting early for non-STP employers.

If STP data becomes available to Services Australia after the relevant reporting period is complete, it does not pre-fill in a later reporting period for the customer to check. Only STP pay events with a date paid in the relevant reporting period will pre-fill for customers.

See Payment and reporting arrangements over national public holiday periods. For an example, see Resources > Table 4 > Item 2 in Single Touch Payroll (STP) processing.

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.

Where an STP employer submits changes to 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 made 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.

Once a customer selects Submit and continue to accept pre-filled data in the STP confirmation service, they are not able to make corrections through self service channels.

If any confirmed amounts need to be updated, evidence must be provided before corrections can be made by Service Officers.

Do not manually make any updates directly on EAPP table or IMPS screen.

Corrections must be made to the confirmed STP data on the STP Employer Wage Items (EMGI) screen using the Earnings and Reporting workflow in Process Direct and not the mapped income on the Employment Income Paid Details (EAPP) table or Income Maintenance Period Summary (IMPS) screen. Updates are done by selecting Yes at Do you want to update income for a past period?

For details, see Process > Table 4 in Single Touch Payroll (STP) processing. For coding instructions, see Recording and correcting employment income details.

When a current customer ceases 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(s) paid

When reporting in self-service channels, customers will be asked to give an explanation about stopping work 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 by Service Officers in these circumstances for Participation Solutions Team (PST)-skilled Service Officers to investigate.

When unused leave and/or redundancy payments are reported with cessation data, the customer is asked for 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).

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 automatically map to Employment Income Paid Details (EAPP) table for at least 2 fortnights when confirmed by the customer, until the compensation details are coded 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.