ATO Assistant Commissioner Peter Holt recently announced that in the 2019/20 financial year, the ATO will be visiting a further 10,000 small businesses across the country including up to 500 small businesses in Tasmania. They will also target businesses that advertise as ‘cash only’ and who’s operation contributes to the black economy. “Businesses that pay … Read more

Employees are spoilt this year as there is a small gap between public holidays during April. This means by taking three days of annual leave or ‘chucking three sickies’, employees can enjoy up to 10 days off work. Employers should plan ahead for those who wish to take annual leave during this time. But the … Read more

Last week, Parliament passed legislation to extend Single Touch Payroll (STP) reporting to include all small employers (those with fewer than 20 employees) from 1 July 2019. Small employers can start reporting any time from the 1 July start date to 30 September 2019. There will be generous transition arrangements including deferrals and a quarterly reporting … Read more

Termination of Employment Timing of Final Pay The Fair Work Act does not specify when amounts due on termination should be paid to the employee. In the past, Fair Work provided us with the following advice: It should be paid to an employee on their last day of work or on the next scheduled pay … Read more

The ATO has released some helpful information which can be shared with employees about STP. The main introduction page is available here: https://www.ato.gov.au/Business/Single-Touch-Payroll/Single-Touch-Payroll-for-employees/ This page then links to the following pages: What Single Touch Payroll means for employees https://www.ato.gov.au/Business/Single-Touch-Payroll/Single-Touch-Payroll-for-employees/What-Single-Touch-Payroll-means-for-employees/ Setting up your myGov account https://www.ato.gov.au/Business/Single-Touch-Payroll/Single-Touch-Payroll-for-employees/Setting-up-your-myGov-account/ Accessing your income statement or payment summary online https://www.ato.gov.au/Business/Single-Touch-Payroll/Single-Touch-Payroll-for-employees/Accessing-your-income-statement-or-payment-summary-online/ When … Read more

Quite often in payroll we are asked to fill out an Employment Separation Certificate for an employee to give to Centrelink. Centrelink uses the Separation Certificate to determine when a person is entitled to receive benefits such as Newstart. Claimants are expected to use leave and redundancy payments to support themselves before being paid the … Read more