/ File Ref: / [FILE NO.]
Title: / Single Touch Payroll Working Group meeting
Venue:
date of meeting: / Teleconference
Date:Friday17 July2015
Time:10.00am to 11.00am (AEST)
Chair: / Martin Mane (ATO) / Facilitator: / Martin Mane (ATO)
Contact: / Kate French / Contact Phone: / 02 4923 1134
0439 422 952
next Meeting: / Teleconference 24 July 2015

KEY MESSAGES

  • Project update – data definitions, working our way through those – more detail in the next few weeks
  • Michael Gleeson will be taking a lead role while Martin is on leave
  • Retail | wholesale detail design still happening, will be handed over to build very soon
  • Scope being review by business for endorsement
  • Amendment discussion – through discussion with SWD in the previous week a need for an amendment process that directly updates a previous report has not been identified
  • Discussion around reversals and pay events, without an amendment process an employee that should not have been reported would be corrected by a subsequent report with reversal amounts (negatives), scenarios for this will in part depend on definitions from action item 10
  • Replacement report – needed due to potential timing issues, EFT file withdrawn for instance and report already sent to the ATO, the ATO report would be incorrect. This still needs the definition of a pay event and in what circumstances would we create a replacement file.
  • A replacement report would need to clearly indicate that it is a replacement and provide the unique identify of the report it is replacing.
  • Need to acknowledge that business processes are different between the small and large end of town in terms of needing a replacement report process ie some would not need or use this functionality.

ACTION ITEMS to be added to and updated

ID / Action item / Status Update
Open items
1 / Provide a roadmap of known items of change for the ATO to include future potential STP scope, SuperStream milestones, changes to myGov/ATO Online etc. / In progress. Seeking latest pack developed for Board of Taxation
2 / Advise who is liable where there is a fraudulent log on to myGov and e.g. Super Choice nomination is made to an SMSF. / In progress.
Pending advice.
5 / Advise the legal position on what action is required where data goes to the wrong employer. / In progress. Exploring process requirements to deal with situations where data is sent to and accepted by the incorrect employer.
6 / Raise software developer community view with Treasury that greater value can be provided to businesses with a change in secrecy provisions. E.g. it would provide greater value if, in wholesale onboarding, employee relationship with a particular superfund could be validated. / In progress. View to change secrecy provisions have been raised with Treasury. Awaiting feedback.
7 / Raise software developer community view of benefit of broadening use of myGov credential with DTO. / In progress. Discussions have commenced within the ATO to consider the user experience and security.
9 / Work through issues associated with RFBA and bring options back to working group. / In progress. Current view is that an additional service will be required to allow reporting of RFBA amounts outside of a normal payroll event.
10 / Define what constitutes the need to report to the ATO and advise working group. Is it a withholding event? Would Super contribution only be reported? What if there is salary sacrifice amount that impacts taxable income? / In progress. The ATO aims to realise an enhancement to Australian payroll accounting systems. New technologies exist to support frequent direct reporting and tax transparency between the ATO and the employer community. The STP program intends to establish a B2G reporting requirement surrounding the following liabilities:
1 – Employee PAYGW liability derived from the salary payments made by an entity to their staff
2 – ATO Super have defined a requirement to have also have both Super entitlement information reported to the ATO on event basis.
3 – ATO Super further intends to collect confirmation of Super payments from employers, driven by the actual payment event to a super fund. The correlation between items 2 and 3 will support ATO Super to define a policy around the implementation of SGC.
4 – Further payroll items that cannot be deemed frequently by event basis like RFBA and associated Salary Sacrifice calculations have been drawn out from the proposed STP payroll event.
5 - A purpose built independent service “STP Payment Summary Update” Event will need to be developed to ensure the capture of payroll related information that falls out of the norm.
Completed items
3 / Advise the electronic record keeping requirements for TFN Dec. / Completed.Depends on law change and what status the ATO Online on-boarding form takes. If it replaces ‘a TFN declaration given to a payer’, then a payer should not need to keep a record of it as they won’t ever have been given a TFN declaration to retain.
Otherwise, the existing law applies and a payer must retain the declaration until the second 1 July after the day on which the declaration ceases to have effect.
4 / Advise whether there is any possible situation where data changed by employer will update ATO-held data – formal response based on law required. / Completed. The current design does not support any situation where the updating of employee-related data by an employer in their BMS updates ATO-held information about that employee e.g. changing their address/name etc.
8 / Check whether specifics of offset details are currently on variation forms / Completed. NAT 3092 Tax file number declaration and NAT 3093 Withholding declaration reviewed for specific offset variation labels. 11 new elements were extrapolated and included into the STP on-boarding taxonomy to include upward, downward and seniors pensioners variation offsets.
11 / Arrange meeting with software providers who allow amendments to payroll events e.g. where it is possible to reverse/delete. Participants to be identified by ABSIA. / Completed. Scheduled for 9 July 2015. Outcomes currently being documented.
12 / Find out how many amended payment summaries the ATO receives each year. / Completed. In 2014 there were 268,245 payment summaries amended by payers – representing ~2%
13 / Explore options for services that can be provided to enable employers to reconcile ATO. / Completed. Functionality to enable employers to reconcile information held by the ATO with that in their software is currently being designed.

CLASSIFICATION: UNCLASSIFIED