Single Touch Payroll will now cover businesses of all sizes after legislation was passed by the Senate this week, ending months of uncertainty.
The Senate on Wednesday (5 December) passed the bill proposing to extend STP to employers with 19 or fewer employees from 1 July 2019.
The passage of legislation follows months of uncertainty for the small business sector, after STP was officially rolled out for employers with 20 or more employees from 1 July 2018.
In preparation for the roll-out across all businesses, the ATO began seeking expressions of interest from digital service providers to develop low-cost STP software for the micro-business sector.
It has since published an initial list of suppliers that will provide such solutions that are required to be affordable, costing less than $10 per month, takes only minutes to complete each pay period and does not require the employer to maintain the software.
The ATO commissioner Chris Jordan has also pledged to ease micro-businesses into the STP regime, stating that they will not be forced into purchasing payroll software, with a number of alternate options set to be available, including the option of allowing their registered tax or BAS agent to report quarterly, rather than each time they run their payroll.
Exemptions to STP reporting will also be available to businesses that have no internet or an unreliable connection. www.mybusiness.com.au. Per the Australian Taxation Office
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