STP PHASE 2

We are an STP – Phase 2 certified ATO Digital service provider. Customers are STP – Phase 2 compliant, will now submit their reporting to the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) through our secure STP Gateway.

ATO Deferral Granted

The ATO granted all Aurion customers a deferral to 1 May 2023. A copy of the deferral notice can be found in the Documentation section of this website.

What if I haven’t yet transitioned to STP – Phase 2?

On behalf of customers, Aurion applied for a deferral period that ended 1 May 2023. If your organisation has not transitioned to STP Phase 2, you are required to apply for your own business-specific deferral from the ATO to be compliant with current legislation.

What is STP Phase 2?

The Australian Taxation Office (ATO) is updating the current Single Touch Payroll (STP) legislation to expand the data collected from customers each pay run. These updates are collectively known as Single Touch Payroll Phase 2 (STP Phase 2).

STP Phase 2 will make it easier for employers to report specific payment details made to employees across all income streams. A detailed summary of data elements added in STP Phase 2, their definition, and their use is included in the ATO’s STP Phase 2 Business Implementation Guide.

Gross Income

STP Phase 2 will report a breakdown of gross income, which includes (but is not limited to):

• Gross residual (excluding below).
• Salary Sacrifice (including Salary Sacrifice Super & other Salary Sacrifice).
• Bonus & Commissions.
• Overtime.
• Director Fees.
• Paid Leave (not limited to; Cash-out of leave, Paid Parental, Workers Compensation).

Allowances

STP Phase 2 will report a breakdown of allowances paid, which includes (but is not limited to):

• Car expense, laundry allowances, meal allowance, travel, accommodation.

New data elements

New fields will be introduced to STP reporting for better accuracy of employment data, including (but not limited to):

• Employment basis.
• Reason for cessation.
• Tax scale.
• Offset amount.

Whole of Government Reporting

In a substantial change to current payroll business processing, the Child Support Agency can automatically receive deductions or wage garnishees data for each pay period from the ATO via STP Reporting – separate reporting will not be required. Additionally, Tax File Number declarations will no longer be sent as a separate report or document.

What do I need to do for STP Phase 2?

STP Phase 2 includes a number of changes that will require additional system configuration, employee data changes, and testing prior to deployment in a Production environment.

• Income Stream Collection disaggregated by Income Type and Country Codes –
  Disaggregation of gross into separately itemised components, which may require some mapping based on customised configurations.
• Tax File Number Declaration Forms data included in every pay for the ATO.
• Employment Separation Certificates data included in every pay with the cessation type for Services Australia.
• New Tax Treatment Codes to advise the PAYGW tax scales applied to each payee.
• Child Support Garnishees and Child Support Deductions to replace separate remittances for the Child Support Registrar.
• Separate Lump Sum E Letters eliminated and will be reported via the pay event.

More information about STP Phase 2 will be added to this page soon.

Need help rolling out STP Phase 2 for your business?

Whether you’ve got payroll, tech and HR experts in-house or not, we’ll work with you and your team to develop an STP2 Blueprint tailored to your organisation. This Blueprint will contain all the information you need to transition. Simply follow our Simple Steps to STP Phase 2 to get started and we’ll generate and Aurion Service Order detailing timeframes and costs. Upon your acceptance we’ll commence booking your STP2 Blueprint Discovery Workshop.

At the conclusion of the Workshop you’ll have an STP2 Blueprint to guide your transition. If you prefer to have Aurion assist you in transitioning to STP Phase 2, book in additional time with an STP2 Consultant to further support your transition.

Looking for STP Phase 1 Resources?

Transition Guides and detailed information for STP Phase 1 is still available here.

Got a question?

Here’s some helpful answers to common STP questions