Single Touch Payroll (STP) 108-22070738

Pre-filled allowance types

Used in PayPP calculation

Tool allowance

N

Travel allowance

N

Laundry

N

Cents per kilometre

N

Task allowance

Y

Qualification allowance

Y - only when pre-filled through STP

Overtime meal allowance

N

Award transport payment

N

Other allowances

Y - unless customer advises it is a reimbursement of a work-related expense

Pre-filled employment income types

component types

Salary and Wages

Income Gross Amount

Foreign Income Exempt Amount

Overtime Paid Amount

Bonus and Commission Income

Directors Fees Income

Paid Leave

Allowances

Salary Sacrifice

Lump Sum

Eligible Termination Payment

Closely Held Payees

Income Gross Amount

Overtime Paid Amount

Bonus and Commission Income

Directors Fees Income

Paid Leave

Allowances

Salary Sacrifice

Lump Sum

Eligible Termination Payment

Working Holiday Makers

Income Gross Amount

Overtime Paid Amount

Bonus and Commission Income

Paid Leave

Allowances

Salary Sacrifice

Lump Sum

Eligible Termination Payment

Inbound Assignees to Australia

Income Gross Amount

Overtime Paid Amount

Bonus and Commission Income

Directors Fees Income

Paid Leave

Allowances

Salary Sacrifice

Lump Sum

Eligible Termination Payment

Seasonal Worker Programme

Income Gross Amount

Overtime Paid Amount

Bonus and Commission Income

Paid Leave

Allowances

Salary Sacrifice

Lump Sum

Eligible Termination Payment

Foreign Employment

Income Gross Amount

Overtime Paid Amount

Bonus and Commission Income

Directors Fees Income

Paid Leave

Allowances

Salary Sacrifice

Lump Sum

Eligible Termination Payment

Joint Petroleum Development Area

Income Gross Amount

Overtime Paid Amount

Bonus and Commission Income

Paid Leave

Allowances

Salary Sacrifice

Lump Sum

Eligible Termination Payment

Voluntary Agreement

Income Gross Amount

Other Specified Payments

Income Gross Amount

Labour-Hire

Income Gross Amount

Pre-filled leave and redundancy payment types

Component types

Update to EAPP screen

Update to IMP screen

Paid leave

Cash out of leave in service

Y

N

Unused leave on termination

Y - when cessation reason and date has not pre-filled. Note: the customer will be asked if they are still working for the employer. If they answer No, a task is created to provide an SU1

Y - only when cessation reason and date is pre-filled

Paid parental leave

Y

N

Worker’s compensation

Y (for first 2 reporting periods)

N

Ancillary or Defence leave

Y

N

Other paid leave

Y

N

Eligible Termination Payment

Redundancy

N

Y

Redundancy accrued for previous years

N

Y

Termination payment

N

Y

Other termination payments

N

Y

Item

Description

1

STP employer name vs trading name

Customer logs into their Centrelink Express Plus mobile app to report their employment income from Kitty Cat Castles. They are asked to check the pre-filled details for STP employer Betty and Bob Smith Trading Company, ABN 100 4567 891.

The customer does not recognise this employer, but before they answer No to working for them, they check their payslip. Their payslip has the employer name of Kitty Cat Castles, but the same ABN of 100 4567 891 and realises that Kitty Cat Castles is the trading name.

The customer confirms the details and merges the STP employer with the existing employer name on their record. They are then presented with pre-filled STP employment income to review.

Customer is presented with a pre-filled amount of $427.65 salary and wages.

The customer knows this amount is correct so does not make any changes and ‘accepts’ the income and continues with their reporting task.

2

Task allowance

Customer is presented with a pre-filled amount of $945.00 salary and wages and $37.50 task allowance.

The customer does not think this is correct as they thought they just get paid $982.50 per fortnight, so they check their payslip. They then see that their pay is made up of 2 components, being the wage of $945 and a first aid allowance of $37.50.

The customer sees that the pre-filled data is actually correct and ‘accepts’ the income.

3

STP service profiling

A notification customer receives a message through myGov that they are required to report each fortnight.

The customer contacts the agency on 10 July and advises that they are not working.

The Service Officer knows that a customer’s reporting frequency may be automatically updated when STP data is reported by an employer. The Service Officer checks the PQS screen in Customer First and sees warning message ‘1790 STP data suggests 2WE reporting’.

The Service Officer launches the Earnings and Reporting workflow in Process Direct as it is the customer’s reporting due date. The ‘STP data present’ indicator is Yes on the Messages page of the workflow and provisional data pre-fills on the STP Employer Update (EMCF) screen. The SO advises the customer that an employer has reported employment details for them via STP. The Service Officer shares the name of the employer and asks the customer whether they work or have recently worked for this employer. The Service Officer uses the ABN Lookup website to identify alternative trading names used by the ABN/WPN that the customer may recognise.

The customer then recognises the trading name is their former employer’s. The customer states they got paid out leave entitlements after ceasing with the employer in February and provided an SU001 as part of their recent Austudy claim.

The Service Officer confirms the STP employer and navigates to EMGI to check what has been reported by the employer. They see STP cessation data has pre-filled. It shows a cessation date of 15 February but unused leave entitlements being paid 30 June. The cessation data and leave payment amounts match the information provided on the SU001, which confirmed the payments were paid 19 February. The Service Officer realises that the employer must have reported their end of financial year STP data for the customer now rather than back in February.

The Service Officer navigates back to EMCF and rejects the STP employer, as the customer no longer works for them and completes the report as per normal business processes. The Service Officer the updates the customer’ reporting frequency to OFF (see Reporting screens) and records the decision and details of the conversation.

If STP data is available in subsequent reporting periods, the customer will be placed back on reporting. If the customer rejects an STP employer through self service reporting more than once, they will be profiled for contact by trained staff for an STP Intervention.

4

Customer with STP data advises they do not work - worker’s compensation

A DSP customer has received a reporting statement and visits their local Centrelink office to ask why they are now on reporting. Customer claims they do not work and have no income to report.

The Service Officer runs the Earnings and Reporting workflow in Process Direct, which takes them to the EMCF screen. They see that an STP employer called Plumbers are us has pre-filled and needs to be reviewed.

The customer is asked if they work for Plumbers are us, where they say no. When asked if they have ever worked for them, the customer states they used to, but not for at least 2 years. The Service Officer asks if they get paid any payments from the employer, where the customer says they get worker’s compensation.

The Service Officer wants to check what employment income is being reported through STP, so ‘confirms’ the employer to be navigated to the STP Employer Wage Items (EMGI) screen. There they see Paid leave -Worker’s compensation of $785.00. When they check the Compensation Management Summary (CMS), it was last updated 2 years ago and shows $623.00. They cancel the started transaction.

Before escalating for an STP reporting override, the Service Officer asks the customer to provide documents to confirm when the worker’s compensation payment had changed. This is because CMS will need to be updated before an override can be applied.

A couple of days later, the customer returns to the office with their documents. The Service Officer updates CMS, reminds the customer of their notification requirements and escalates so an STP override can be considered.

5

Customer with STP data advises they do not work - salary and wages

A student has received a reporting statement and calls the student payment line on their reporting day to ask why they have to report.

The Service Officer checks PQS and sees 1790 STP data suggests 2WE reporting and asks the customer if they work, in which they reply with no.

The Earnings and Reporting workflow is run in Process Direct. A message advises there is STP data present and when on the STP Employer Update (EMCF) screen, an employer name of Myer Pty Ltd has pre-filled. Although the customer states they do not work for Myer, the Service Officer confirms the employer to navigate to STP Employer Wage Items (EMGI) screen to check employment income details. They can see salary and wages, overtime and allowances have been reported.

When questioning the customer if they have ever worked for Myer, the customer confirms they do a bit of casual work here and there during the semester breaks. The customer then states as they have maximum credits in their student income bank and sometimes get paid less than their income threshold, they didn’t think they needed to report it.

After explaining reporting requirements for students, the customer understands that they must report all employment income they are paid, even when they are paid less than the student income threshold. The customer confirms that the amounts that have pre-filled on EMGI matches their payslip details, so the Service Officer selects Accepts Income and completes the reporting transaction. The customer also advises that Myer has been their only job and there have been no other employers.

The customer is asked to upload their payslips from when they first commenced their casual position at Myer. They are also advised of their next reporting date and told how they can do this using self-service channels.

6

Compensation payments

Already assessed

Customer is currently paid worker’s compensation of $427.98 from their employer, which has previously been assessed by the Compensation Recovery Team. When the customer goes online to report their partner’s employment income, they are presented with a pre-filled amount of $427.98 salary and wages from their current employer.

The customer adjusts the amount to $0.00 as they do not get paid salary and wages from their employer, advises their partner’s income and completes their report.

The employer shortly after realises they made a mistake by not reporting the payment as paid leave –worker’s compensation.

They correct this by updating the pay details with the ATO via STP. The updates won’t pre-fill to the customer as they have already completed the report.

Once the employer makes the updates and reports the compensation payment correctly in the future, the customer will no longer be presented with pre-filled compensation payment details.

New compensation details

A JSP customer has recently started to be paid workers compensation. When they commence their reporting task through their online account, they see Paid leave –worker’s compensation pre-filled. The customer confirms the pre-filled details, noticing it is an assessable amount, and completes their report. They then see they have an online task to provide a MOD C, which they submit a few days later.

When they do their next 3 reports, they confirm the pre-filled worker’s compensation details again, noticing it still shows as an assessable amount, and finalise each of their report.

On the (5^th) fortnight, they confirm the pre-filled worker’s compensation details again, but this time they notice it now shows as not assessable. The customer checks their online account and can see that their compensation details are now being assessed separately.

7

Gross vs net

Customer calls the Youth and Students payment line to do their reporting over the phone as they cannot log into their online account. The Service Officer runs the Earnings and Reporting workflow in Process Direct where STP data is presented. The Service Officer discusses the pre-filled income of $375.33 salary and wages and $12.00 laundry allowance.

The customer confirms they got paid the $12 laundry allowance but only got paid $350.00 of salary and wages. Before adjusting the amount on behalf of the customer, the Service Officer reminds the customer that that the gross amount needs to be reported. The customer checks their payslip and sees they were reading the nett amount and later confirms both amounts.

The Service Officer ‘accepts’ the income and advises that only the salary and wages component is assessed as the laundry allowance is a reimbursement for out of pocket expenses.

8

Unused leave paid on termination

Austudy customer ceased employment on 27 May and is presented with a pre-filled amount of $3,782.23 Paid leave -unused leave on termination and $687.45 salary and wages, all paid on 2 June. STP data advises the customer ceased work on 27 May due to end of contract

The customer is asked how many days the leave payment covers. The customer advises the leave was for 13 days and ‘accepts’ the income. An IMP is then imposed for 2 weeks and 3 days (13 work days) from 2 June until 20 June.

9

Updating pre-filled STP data

Customer contacts the agency as their pre-filled STP income is not correct.

On 2 March 2022, the STP employer incorrectly reports $600 gross for this pay event, however, the customer was paid their usual wage of $500 gross. The Service Officer advises the customer that they must declare the gross income they were paid in their reporting period and explains how the customer can do this when reporting through the app.

The customer goes back to their app and edits the pre-filled amount of $600 to $500, to match their payslip and completes their report.

When the employer realises their mistake and makes the correction to the reported STP data, it will have no impact to the customer’s completed report.

10

Self-employed customer

Customer has a lawn mowing business where they choose which jobs they take and what days they work. This has been assessed and is coded on REBS under the customer’s ABN 12345678910.

STP data has been reported by AKS Lawn Mowing PTY LTD ABN 37611672247, which has placed the customer on 2WE reporting. The customer contacts to say they have previously provided a MOD F and financial documents for their own lawnmowing service and asks why they need to report.

The Service Officer runs the Earnings and Reporting workflow in Process Direct. As it is not the customer’s reporting date, they select Update past periods and enter the date range 01/11/23 to 23/11/23. They see STP data present for the past reporting period and select this period. They are taken to the STP Employer Update (EMCF) screen where they see AKS Lawn Mowing PTY LTD pre-filled.

When asked if they have ever worked for the STP employer, the customer says yes but they do not consider themselves an employee of the business because they have their own ABN. They state they included the income from the work along with deductions in their latest Profit and Loss statement.

The Service Officer asks the customer questions and confirms they are an employee of AKS Lawn Mowing from the following:

• they do not choose their hours of work
• they are told the locations to attend for various lawn maintenance
• weekly payslips are issued to the customer that show tax deductions and employer Superannuation Guarantee Contributions (SGC)
• AKS Lawn Mowing provides all equipment and tools

The customer also undertakes other work through their own ABN. After discussing with the customer the Service Officer confirms that the other work is self-employment.

The customer understands that they need to report the employment income paid by the STP employer every 2 weeks and are told how they can do this using self service channels. They are also advised to:

• not include employment income as an employee within their profit and loss statement for their business
• upload their payslips from when they first commenced with AKS Lawn Mowing and to provide an adjusted profit and loss statement that does not include the wages paid by AKS Lawn Mowing PTY LTD

11

Salary sacrifice - Superannuation

Customer works part-time and has an annual salary of $45,000. They are paid gross wages of $1,346.15 per fortnight. The customer has chosen a salary packaging arrangement, where a pre-tax deduction of $100 goes towards superannuation. This arrangement means the customer pays less tax.

When the customer views their pre-filled STP data, they see salary and wages of $1,346.15 and salary sacrifice - superannuation of $100. They initially thought the details were incorrect, as the customer’s payslip shows their ‘taxable’ income being $1,246.15 per fortnight. They contact Centrelink to discuss the pre-filled data.

After speaking to a Service Officer, they understand that for Centrelink purposes, the salary sacrificed amount is shown for visibility only, and does not reduce their gross assessable income. The customer confirms the pre-filled income that needs to be declared and reported as $1,346.16.

12

Salary sacrifice - Other

Customer works part-time for a consultancy firm, where their base annual salary is $35,000. Their employer offers salary packaging for fringe benefits, so the customer has chosen to salary sacrifice towards a Novated car lease. Each payslip shows their regular normal wage of $1,346.15 per fortnight with a deduction of $400 towards a Novated car lease. This arrangement means the customer pays less tax.

When the customer views their pre-filled STP data, they see salary and wages of $1,346.15 and salary sacrifice -other of $400. They are surprised that their total assessable income remains as $1,346.15. The customer does not agree with $1,346.15 being assessed so changes the income to $946.15 to factor in the sacrificed amount of $400, before confirming the STP data and continuing with their report.

When a trained Service Officer contacts the customer as part of an STP Intervention, the customer tells them that their taxable income is $946.15 per fortnight. The Service Officer explains how Salary Sacrifice arrangements do not reduce the assessable income of $1,346.15 for Centrelink purposes and corrects the last 2 reports.

The customer now understands that the arrangement only reduces their income for taxation purposes, but not for Centrelink. They then know that the pre-filled amounts do not need to be changed and completes their reports correctly in the future.

13

Reportable fringe benefits

Customer works part-time for a local community charity. Their employer provides a salary package worth $40,000, which is $24,000 salary plus a car with a Fringe Benefit value of $16,000 per annum. Their salary also includes a laundry allowance as they are required to wear a uniform.

The customer contacts to do their reporting. The pre-filled STP data shows salary and wages $923.08, laundry allowance $7.20 and reportable fringe benefits of $1,161.11 (reportable grossed up amount).

The Service Officer asks if the fringe benefits includes free or discounted accommodation. As this arrangement is for a car, the customer answers no. If it did include free or discounted accommodation, the customer would be asked the amount, which would then reduce the amount of fringe benefits to be assessed.

The Gross STP Income and Gross Income Reported fields display a total of $2,084.19. The customer advises their pay slip shows their total income as $1,545.66 and asks why the amount is different. The Service Officer explains that the grossed up amount of RFB is reported for taxation purposes, but the system only applies the non grossed up amount for the income test. They also advise that we do not include the laundry allowance as it is non-assessable component.

The customer confirms the details are correct, so accept income is selected. A message tells the Service Officer, that ‘53% of Reportable Fringe Benefits will be calculated and mapped. This means that the Service Officer does not need to do any calculations to work out the non-grossed up amount. When selecting Next through the workflow, they are taken to EAPP where they can confirm the 2 assessable income components, $923.08 and $615.39, totalling $1,538.47are applied to the income test.

14

Both Salary Sacrifice and Reportable Fringe Benefits

Some customers may have a salary package that includes a fringe benefit, but they also choose to salary sacrifice.

Customer works for a nursing home, where they have a salary package of $60,000; salary of $52,000 and a car with a Fringe Benefit value of $8,000 per annum. They also salary sacrifice $350 per fortnight to an entertainment card. This reduces their taxable income so they pay less tax.

The customer contacts to have their fortnightly reporting completed.

The Service Officer discusses the pre-filled STP data of salary and wages of $2,000, reportable fringe benefits of $580.55 and salary sacrifice - other of $350. The total STP Gross Income amount totals $2580.55.

The customer understands the fringe benefit amount reported is the grossed up taxable value, in which we apply 53% (non-grossed-up amount) for the income assessment, being $307.69. Once Accept Income is selected, a message tells the Service Officer, that ‘53% of Reportable Fringe Benefits will be calculated and mapped’.

When checking EAPP, the Service Officer can see the 2 components have been applied; $2,000 and $307.69, totalling $2,307.69.

Note: when the employer reports the grossed up taxable value of the Salary Sacrifice arrangement at the end of the financial year for taxation purposes, the customer will need to adjust this to 0.00 to prevent it from being doubled up.

15

Negative amounts due to employer making adjustments

Customer’s usual pay is $745 every 2 weeks. For the pay period 1 September to 14 September (paid 15 September), they did an additional 5 hours of overtime ($275).

When the customer did their online reporting on 20 September, they saw STP data pre-filled of salary and wages $745 and Task Allowance of $275. The customer confirmed these amounts as the total income matched their payslip details and completed their report. When they went to work the next day, they asked their employer if the overtime they did should have been reported as a Task Allowance.

The employer realised they did not report the extra hours as Overtime Paid Amount, so made an adjustment to the STP data. This will impact the pre-filled components in the following reporting period, to show the adjustments to Task Allowance and Overtime Paid Amount.

When the customer reported next on 4 October, the details for pay period 15 September to 28 September (paid 29 September) pre-filled as salary and wages $745, Task allowance (negative) $255 and Overtime Paid Amount of $255.

The customer is aware that their employer had corrected the components and adjusts the pre-filled amount of Overtime Paid Amount of $255 to 0.00 as they did not get paid this amount this fortnight

16

Purchased leave

Negative adjustment of paid leave

Customer works casually for a transport company that has busy peak periods during the year and then very quiet times.

They have an arrangement with their employer where they can purchase 5 hours of paid leave during the busy periods. This enables them to accrue entitlements so they can be paid whilst taking leave during the quiet months.

Their fortnightly payslip shows casual wages for 68 hours, totalling $2,380. There is then a deduction of $175 for 5 hours of paid leave. The total taxable wages are $2,205.

When they report online, the STP data shows:

• Salary and Wages Income Gross Amount of $2,380.00
• Salary and Wages paid leave component of negative $175.00

The customer has previously been told how negative amounts do not reduce the overall assessable income and that a manual adjustment is needed by the customer. They select Edit or add pay to adjust the $2,380 to $2,205 and finalises their report.

Employer adjusted Income Gross Amount

If the employer had reported the salary and wages with the adjustment to reflect the purchased leave deduction, the STP data would have pre-filled as:

• Salary and Wages Income Gross Amount of $2,205.00

The customer would not be required to make any adjustments.

In both scenarios when the customer accesses their paid leave, it will pre-fill with the amount paid. No further updates will be needed to adjust the amounts.

17

Date paid is incorrect

Customer is paid by their employer every 2 weeks on a Thursday and reports the following Monday.

When they go online to do their report on Monday 6 November, they see the correct salary and wages of $785 and overtime of $210, but the date paid shows as 3 November (Friday), instead of 2 November (Thursday).

The customer selects Edit or add pay and adjusts both pay components to 0.00. When the question Do you need to add pay details is displayed, the customer selects Yes and adds both pay components with paid date as 2 November to match their payslip. Customer then successfully completes their report.

18

Adding a pay event

Customer reports on Wednesdays, usually around 3pm after getting home from work. This fortnight they have logged in to their online account early in the morning. The customer gets paid weekly each Wednesday around lunchtime.

When the customer reviews their pre-filled income details, there is only 1 pay event when they are expecting 2. The customer realises that their employer would not have run the pays for this week yet so when asked Do you need to add pay details, they select yes and manually add the missing pay details. When the employer runs the payroll later in the day, the STP data may become available, but will not present to the customer when they next report.

Only pre-filled or manually added STP data that has been confirmed and accepted by the customer will update to the customer’s record.

19

Early reporting

Customer receives JobSeeker Payment and reports every 2nd Friday. Due to a national public holiday, their reporting date of Friday 23 Dec has been changed to Wednesday 21 December.

Their STP employer runs their payroll every 2nd Thursday on the day before the customer reports. As they are reporting on the Wednesday, there is no pre-filled STP income available.

Although the customer is reporting early, they still need to declare any employment income that they expect to be paid within their reporting period. As there is no STP data available on their early reporting day, they will not enter the STP confirmation service. The customer selects +Add pay in the Report employment income (REI) service and records the pay that they expect to be paid, for Thursday 22 December 2022.

20

Incorrect employer name

Customer has contacted to advise that the STP income that pre-fills when reporting is correct, but it is from the wrong employer. The customer advises they have just started working at Coles, but used to work at Woolworths last year.

The Service Officer views the customer’s details in Process Direct and notices that on the STP Employer Update (EMCF) screen, the STP Employer Name says Coles Supermarket but the Linked Employer is Woolworths Supermarket. This would have occurred at the time when confirming the pre-filled STP employer but selecting the wrong employer name to link from existing EANS details.

The Service Officer runs the STP Employer Update workflow from Process Direct, selects Edit for the employer that needs updating, selects Rejected from the Status drop down options and then Save. The Service Officer then selects Assess and finalises the activity.

Once completed, the Service Officer runs the STP Employer Update workflow again and this time selects Confirmed from the Status drop down options. They then select the Employer field for linking and as Coles is not an existing employer on EANS, the Service Officer selects New Employer, then Save.

The Service Officer notices that the STP employment income details from last fortnight’s report had mapped under Woolworths on EAPP, so they follow current BAU processes to replicate the coding under the right employer name of Coles. They then finalise their updates.

The Service Officer explains to the customer that when they next report, they will see their employment income pre-fill with the correct STP employer name.

21

Examples of cessation payments being paid to an employee who is still employed

Some employers may report Unused leave on termination paid to an employee with no cessation date or reason. This may occur in the following scenarios:

Transition to Phase 2 PayEvent 2020 data (PE2020)

Where an employment relationship terminates before the employer transitions to PayEvent 2020 data, it is possible that after they transition to PayEvent 2020 the employer may still make a payment of unused leave to the individual. This may result in the cessation date and reason being unavailable in the payroll system, as the termination occurred before the transition, during phase 1. Unused leave and termination payments will update to IMP. An SU1/letter from employer will be required for payments subject to mutual obligation requirements.

Employment status changes from permanent to casual

An employee may change from a permanent employment status (full time or part time) to casual. When paid, the employee's remaining entitlements are correctly classified in STP as unused leave on termination. However, as the person remains a casual employee of the same employer the payment is assessed as a lump sum and coded on EAPP. See Leave and termination payments paid by an employer.

Reinstatement

An employee may leave their employment, be paid their entitlements, and later be reinstated. This can occur in wrongful termination situations and the effect of the reinstatement is that the cessation is taken to have never occurred. The instruction for employers is to remove the cessation date. However, the reinstatement does not change the fact a payment for unused leave was made, and so it must remain in the STP reporting. The STP reporting will, as a result, show amounts present as Unused Leave on Termination without a cessation date or reason. If the customer advises they are still working for that employer, the payment is assessed as a lump sum and coded on EAPP.