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THIS IS A WIP PAGE

Introduction


Synergetic now supports the latest version of Single Touch Payroll (STP2). Our developers have worked hard to automate the transition to STP2, but there are still several areas of the software that must be manually checked to ensure you understand and are fully-compliant with you must check that payroll is configured correctly and update pay and taxation data to ensure it conforms to the STP2 specification.


Checking that payroll is configured correctly


In this topic section you will check the following areas of Synergetic to ensure STP2 is correctly configured:

Important: You need to be running the version v70.x or later. Please contact Synergetic Support if you have not upgraded to this version.

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paycodemaint
paycodemaint

Pay Code Maintenance


Pay Code Maintenance has been updated to support grouping pay by income stream and additional reporting categories designed to split up gross pay into amounts for:

  • gross
  • paid leave
  • allowances
  • overtime
  • bonuses and commissions
  • directors' fees
  • lump sum W (return to work)
  • salary sacrifice.

    Note: The ATO refers to this change as the "disaggregation of gross". For more information, see the following page from the ATO website: Expanding Single Touch Payroll Phase 2.

You will need to check that all pay codes to be used in STP 2 are correctly configured for:

  • taxable pay codes
  • deduction pay codes
  • superannuation pay codes
  • leave pay codes
  • allowance pay codes

If you have employees who are paid under a non salaries and wages (SAW) income stream you will need to ensure pay codes specific to that income stream(s) have been configured.



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titleChecking whether taxable pay codes are correctly configured

Previously, 

These 

  • Pay Codes for Deductions and Superannuation do not need Income Stream
  • Taxable Pay Codes where the Income Stream is not Salaries and Wages
  • Pay Codes for Leave
    • Reporting Category
    • Default Payment

Pay Codes for Allowances (as per PowerPoint suggestions)


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titleChecking whether deduction pay codes are correctly configured

These 

  • Pay Codes for Deductions and Superannuation do not need Income Stream
  • Taxable Pay Codes where the Income Stream is not Salaries and Wages
  • Pay Codes for Leave
    • Reporting Category
    • Default Payment

Pay Codes for Allowances (as per PowerPoint suggestions)Checking pre-tax deduction pay codes

Pre-tax deduction pay codes require an income stream type. By default, the Income Stream Type field in Pay Code Maintenance is automatically populated with the Salary and Wages (SAW) income stream type, so you will need to update any pay codes that need a different income stream type (e.g. Closely Held Payees). 

To check pre-tax deduction pay codes:

  1. Select Module > Payroll > Payroll Employee Maintenance from the Main menu.
  2. Select Deduction - Pre-Tax (non-superannuation) from the Pay Code Type drop-down list.
  3. Click OK.
  4. Select a pay code.
  5. Select the required income stream using the Income Stream Type field.
  6. Repeat steps 4 and 5 for the additional pay codes as necessary. 

Checking after-tax deduction pay codes

After-tax deduction pay codes do not require an income stream type. You need to check that the Income Stream Type field is blank for all pay codes with the Deduction - After-tax (non-superannuation) pay code type.

To check after-tax deduction pay codes:

  1. Select Module > Payroll > Payroll Employee Maintenance from the Main menu.
  2. Select Deduction - After-Tax (non-superannuation) from the Pay Code Type drop-down list.
  3. Click OK.
  4. Select a pay code.
  5. Ensure that the Income Stream Type field is blank.
  6. Repeat steps 4 and 5 for the remaining pay codes. 


These 

  • Pay Codes for Deductions and Superannuation do not need Income Stream
  • Taxable Pay Codes where the Income Stream is not Salaries and Wages
  • Pay Codes for Leave
    • Reporting Category
    • Default Payment
Pay Codes for Allowances (as per PowerPoint suggestions)
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titleChecking whether superannuation pay codes are correctly configured

Checking salary sacrifice superannuation pay codes

Pay codes with the Superannuation - Salary Sacrifice pay code type require an income stream type. Additionally, you need to select a report category of either:

  • Reportable Employer Super Contribution
  • Salary Sacrifice - Super.

To check salary sacrifice superannuation pay codes:

  1. Select Module > Payroll > Payroll Employee Maintenance from the Main menu.
  2. Select Superannuation - Salary Sacrifice from the Pay Code Type drop-down list.
  3. Click OK.
  4. Select a pay code.
  5. Select the required income stream using the Income Stream Type field.
  6. Select one of the following options from the Reporting Category drop-down list:

    • Reportable Employer Super Contribution
    • Salary Sacrifice - Super.

  7. Repeat steps 4 and 5 for the additional pay codes as necessary. 

Checking employee voluntary after-tax and employer contributed superannuation pay codes

The following pay codes do not require an income stream type:

  • Superannuation - Employee Voluntary After-Tax
  • Superannuation - Employer Contributed.

You need to check that the Income Stream Type field is blank for all pay codes with either of these pay code types.

To check employee voluntary after-tax and employer contributed pay codes:

  1. Select Module > Payroll > Payroll Employee Maintenance from the Main menu.
  2. Select Superannuation - Employee Voluntary After-Tax from the Pay Code Type drop-down list.
  3. Click OK.
  4. Select a pay code.
  5. Ensure that the Income Stream Type field is blank.
  6. Repeat steps 4 and 5 for the remaining pay codes.
  7. Click Criteria.
  8. Select Superannuation - Employer Contributed from the Pay Code Type drop-down list.
  9. Repeat steps 3 to 6.


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titleChecking whether paid leave pay codes are correctly configured

These 

  • Pay Codes for Deductions and Superannuation do not need Income Stream
  • Taxable Pay Codes where the Income Stream is not Salaries and Wages
  • Pay Codes for Leave
    • Reporting Category
    • Default Payment

Pay Codes for Allowances (as per PowerPoint suggestions)Paid leave pay codes must have the Paid Leave reporting category. Additionally, a default paid leave type must be selected using the Default Paid Leave Type drop-down list.

To check whether paid leave pay codes are correctly configured:

  1. Select Module > Payroll > Payroll Employee Maintenance from the Main menu.
  2. Search for the pay codes used by your organisation for paid leave.
  3. Select a pay code.
  4. Select Paid Leave using the Reporting category drop-down list.
  5. Select a default paid leave type using the Default Paid Leave Type drop-down list.
  6. Repeat steps 3 to 5 for the remaining pay codes.

    Note: The Default Paid Leave Type drop-down list is not displayed until Paid Leave using the Reporting category drop-down list.


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titleChecking whether allowance pay codes are correctly configured



These 

  • Pay Codes for Deductions and Superannuation do not need Income Stream
  • Taxable Pay Codes where the Income Stream is not Salaries and Wages
  • Pay Codes for Leave
    • Reporting Category
    • Default Payment

Pay Codes for Allowances (as per PowerPoint suggestions)


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lookupfinance
lookupfinance

Lookup Table Maintenance - Finance


Finance lookup tables have been updated to supported new tax scales and valid employee termination reasons defined by the Australian Government.

You will need to check the:

  • luPayrollTerminationReason lookup table to ensure Australian Government cessation codes are correctly mapped to Synergetic lookup table records.
  • luPayrollTaxationRate lookup table to familiarise yourself with the new tax scales and understand how they relate to the previous tax scales. 



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titleChecking whether valid termination reasons are mapped using the luPayrollTerminationReason lookup table

Employee terminations must be reported using Australian Government cessation codes. These cessation codes are mapped to termination reasons using the ExternalSystemType and ExternalSystemCode fields of the luPayrollTerminationReason lookup table.

Note: Synergetic maps the cessation codes during installation, but the mapping must be checked to ensure it is correct.



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titleChecking whether STP2 tax scales are loaded into the luPayrollTaxationRate lookup table

Tax scales have been updated to use a four character code that combines with additional fields on the Tax tab of Payroll Employee Maintenance (see below) to define the tax treatment of each employee.

These tax scales can be viewed using the luPayrollTaxationRate lookup table. We recommend checking this lookup table to familiarise yourself with the new tax scales and understand how they relate to the previous tax scales (see the LegacyTaxScale field).


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payempmaint
payempmaint

Payroll Employee Maintenance


Payroll Employee Maintenance has been updated to support new employee taxation fields and termination reasons.

You will need to check the:

  • General tab to ensure valid termination reasons are selected for employees terminated during the 2022 Payroll Year
  • Tax tab to ensure employee taxation details have been correctly converted.



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titleChecking whether valid termination reasons are selected for employees

Employees terminated during the 2022 payroll year must be terminated using termination reasons linked to the new Australian Government cessation codes. We have already mapped the records of the luPayrollTerminationReason lookup table to the new cessation codes, so now we will select a valid reason for each terminated employee on the General tab of Payroll Employee Maintenance.

To check whether valid termination reasons are selected for terminated employees:

  1. Select Module > Payroll > Payroll Employee Maintenance from the Main menu.
  2. Select 2022 in the Payroll Year field.
  3. Select Yes in the Terminated Employees field.



  4. Click OK.
  5. Click the General tab.
  6. Select an employee using the Payroll Employee Selector.
  7. Select a termination reason using the Reason drop-down list.
  8. Repeat steps 5 and 6 for the remaining employees.  



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titleChecking whether employee taxation details have been correctly converted

Synergetic automatically converts existing taxation details to the STP2 specification during the upgrade, but you must check the following fields for each employee to ensure the conversion was successful:

  • Tax scale
  • Medicare Levy Surcharge
  • Medicare Levy Reduction
  • Tax Treatment Code
  • Employment Basis
  • Super Liability/OTE Submit
  • Income Type.

To check employee taxation details have been correctly converted:

  1. Select Module > Payroll > Payroll Employee Maintenance from the Main menu.
  2. Click OK.
  3. Click the Tax tab.
  4. Select an employee using the Payroll Employee Selector.
  5. Check whether:

    Tax Scale field is populated with a valid (four character) STP2 tax scale code
    - Medicare Levy Surcharge and Medicare Levy Reduction fields are populated
    - Tax Treatment Code populates correctly

      Note: This read-only field is a combination of the values selected for the Tax Scale, Medicare Levy Surcharge and Medicare Levy Reduction.

    - Employment Basis field is populated with the employment of the payroll employee (e.g. Full Time Employee)
    - Super Liability/OTE Submit field is populated, if necessary
    - Income Type is populated with Salary or Wages.



  6. Repeat steps 4 and 5 for the remaining employees.



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titleChecking whether employee pay codes are correctly configured

Review the Pay Codes used and update where new Pay Codes have been created per the STP 2 guidelines


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payrconfig

Payroll Configuration


  • Tax Rates
  • Superannuation Minimum ($0 from July)


  • Switching on STP2
    • When you are ready to move from STP1 to STP2 you will enable STP Version 2
    • You will be able to set your payroll to STP2 Test Mode
    • When ready to start submitting STP2 files to the ATO de-select Test Mode

NB:  It is not recommended to keep switching test mode on and off again but can be used for the purposes as described above    

Updating pay data



Processing Pays in STP2

Changes to processing in current pay maintenance

  • When using a pay code for leave you will need to know



Processes to add / consider

  • Potentially change leave documentation to include reason for leave