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Finalising Pays
Q: What happens if the incorrect BSB and/or account number has been given
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A: There are two possible solutions to this, depending on when the incorrect details are discovered.
- At any time before the Pay is submitted to the ATO, the finalise process can be Cancelled using the button, to allow
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- the pay to be edited. You can then alter the payment details, and then start the finalise pay process again.
- Once the STP Payroll Event has been sent you cannot unlock the pay. However in this case we have made it so that you can alter the payment method details in the current pay and regenerate the bank file. The ATO only receives the amounts and not the banking details so there is no need to update what has been sent to them.
Q: Would it be worth having a logical order to the menu in "Finalise Payroll" in the order you would normally prepare it. Better with the "View Payroll Report" before the "Commence Payroll Finalisation"?
A: The order has been set this way as it’s not strictly necessary to view the report before finalisation, however once the pay has been finalised, the view report step then shows the final set of data and must be run.
Q: So we can't finalise the pay until we get a response from the ATO?
A: From what we understand via the ATO, this is the case.You do not have to wait for a response from the ATO to close off the pay or to carry out other end-of-pay processes.
It may be a good idea, at least to start, to wait for the ATO's response before sending the payslips so if there are issues that result in the pay event being rejected, you don't have to resend corrected payslips. (This is presuming that you still have time to meet the obligation under Fair Work to supply the payslip within one working day of the payment.)
Q: Will this hold up the next pay if you have two in the same week? i.e. monthly and fortnightly
A: Potentially, we are investigating further with the ATO to understand the scenario/limitations from their perspectiveYou can only have one pay undergoing submission to the ATO at one time. However this will not hold up any other pay processes. The only thing is you may have to wait for one STP submission to finish before triggering the next one.
Q: Can we pay the employees and then wait to finalise the STP process?
A: Yes, noting that the submission to the ATO must occur The ATO requires that you submit the payment event to them on or before the date of the payment being received by employees.day that the payment is made. You can generate the bank file and upload it ahead of the payment date however, and then send the STP event on the payment date.
Q: Can you have more than one pay open at a time still?
A: Yes, you can have multiple pays open in parallel, but they will need to be reported only one can be undergoing STP submission to the ATO and finalised based on their chronological orderat one time.
STP Submission
Q: Is it important to submit the STP before the Payroll process date? Can it be the same date?
A: It can be submitted on the same or prior date (noting that the ATO require the submission to be received by the date at which employees receive payment). It is worth sending in advance if possible to ensure that the ATO is able to verify the content and let you finalise by process date, to minimise any need for later amendmentsThe key date in the pay for STP is the Payment Available date. This is what will be transmitted to the ATO as the payment date.
The STP Payroll event should be submitted on or before the Payment Available date.
Q: Does the STP have to be sent and verified before we can process the pay through the bank?
A: We believe it's not required for the verification aspect (as employees can't be delayed from being paid), but it is safest to submit and have verification on or before the payment date, to avoid needing to make updates/amendments after the factNo. You should not delay payment based on not having received a response from the ATO's STP service.
Q: Does the STP submission need to be acknowledged by the ATO before payment to the employees, or is the submission date being the same value sufficient?
A: As long as STP submission received by ATO on or before the date of payment this should be sufficientNo. In usual processing we believe it would be extremely rare that you have not received acknowledgement from the ATO in a timely fashion. If there were something wrong with the STP web service (e.g. down for maintenance) and there was a delay in acknowledgement you should still pay your employees in the required time.
Q: If the process date was say 1/4/18 and the STP date was 2/4/18 does this mean the payment date can be 2/4/18 or later?
A: The date that you’re transacting into the General Ledger is the process date; the payment date can This is not important as far as STP goes. The payment available date should be on or after the date that you are sending the STP dateevent.
Q: For the STP authorising person ability, can the system allow two people to be recorded, as we have one employee managing monthly payroll and a separate person for fortnightly payroll?
A: At present the functionality allows for one person similar to PAYG handling; ability to have multiple people would need to be explored as a functionality extension Each pay can be signed off by a different user. They need to be logged in themselves to complete the declaration and send the payroll event. Each STP transaction will also include a contact person for the organisation. There can only be one of them. This is similar to the current situation where you can only have one contact listed for the PAYG summary.
STP Events and content
Q: How is superannuation reported to the ATO?
A: Superannuation amounts are reported to the ATO through STP events. This includes Super Guarantee and /or Ordinary Time Earnings are included in the STP Payroll Events, but existing Reportable Super amounts. These amounts are reported when the superannuation liability first occurs. Existing reporting when actually making the super payments hasn't changed. The total amount liability will be reported by the STP pay event to the ATO, but you still need to upload the superannuation file to your clearing house for processing.
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A: Every STP notification sent to the ATO for an employee indicates their Year To Date figure, so the initial event, if sent after 1 July, will show the cumulative YTD figure.
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A: Continue to do as you are currently doing. The changes for STP will not impact the Synergetic BAS process. If you have correctly reported through STP during the whole year, your W1 and W2 amounts should be prefilled when you log in to the ATO's business interface to complete your BAS.
Q: With regard to the pay lines per each employee, is all of the information sent to the ATO via STP or is only certain information sent?
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A: Once you are using STP for a financial year then there is no ongoing need to do PAYG summaries for that year. In fact, you should not supply a PAYG for anything that has been finalised through STP.
Q: Do we still need to update EMPDUPE file on to the ATO Portal?
A: Once you are using STP for a financial year then there is no ongoing need to update generate EMPDUPE files for that year.
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Q: If Synergetic is deferring the STP implementation, do we get an automatic deferral or do we still have to report via STP?
A: An initial draft sent on basis of change management; deferral code to clients, that they can provide to the ato under the deferralAssuming the ATO approves Synergetic's deferral request, the ATO will provide Synergetic with a vendor deferral code which will cover all employers using Synergetic for up to the end of the deferral window. The ATO is able to determine which sites use Synergetic for Payroll via the PAYG submissions in prior year; for sites that are newly converted to using Synergetic and the ATO are not aware of this, your site may need to contact the ATO and quote the vendor code to ensure you are covered.
Once your site has v69 installed and is ready to move to STP (ahead of July 1 or ahead of the deferral end date) you will be able to commence and do not need to wait until the deferral timeline finishes - you can commence with STP as soon as ready. Note that once you commence using STP, you will be required to continue doing so by ATO requirement.
Q: As Synergetic will be sending STP events via an ebMS3 Messaging gateway, is this a Synergetic responsibility and we don’t have to do anything?
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