| Question from Attendee | Category | TASS Comment |
|---|
| Would you be able to pull up an example of how the allowances should be set up please? I missed this sorry | Allowance | In the presentation, an example of Tool Allowance was given. Under the Paycode, the STP Reporting Payment Type was set to Allowances and Deduction. Once this was set the Allowance Type field becomes mandatory, and Tool was selected from the Drop down menu. |
| Allowances for a position of responsibility is not an allowance that needs to be reported to the ATO | Allowance | This is an interpretation of the ATO guidelines. On the ATO website under Task Allowance, "additional responsibilities" and "higher duties" are to be included. I would suggest these would capture 'a position of responsibility'. |
| I am also keen to know about the Head of House allowance | Allowance | Task Allowances include "Additional Responsibilities" and "Higher duties" which would capture Head of House Allowance |
| More clarity on what a task allowance means would be helpful. Does this cover items like position of responsibility "loadings"? | Allowance | The explanation on what is considered in each of the categories of allowance can be reviewed here. |
| Are head of house allowances part of Earnings OR Allowance ? | Allowance | An Allowance to recognise greater skill or qualification would come under the Task allowance option. Refer here: section titled: Task allowances (allowance type KN) |
| We have someone got annual leave cashed out last month. Do we report that as well? | Leave | Yes, Setup the same paycode they had used for this pay out as "Cash Out of leave in service". Will automatically report to ATO whenever that employee gets paid in any pay run. |
| We pay both Company Parental Leave and Centrelink Parental - how should these be set up please? Gov paid parental leave to be reported under step 5 as paid parental leave? or is this only for payments made by the school? | Leave | These two payments are reported to the ATO in the same way as type paid leave type P. In TASS that means that the Single Touch Payroll Reporting on these paycodes would be set to payment type paid leave and Leave Type Paid Parental Leave. This information has been collected from this link (section titled: Paid parental leave (paid leave type P). |
| Strongly recommend that participants refer to ATO website for some answers e.g What goes into Paid parental leave (paid leave type P). ATO provides examples | Leave | When an employer receive money from Government and paying directly to an employee. That goes to paid parental leave. When it stops, they can use Maternity Leave which will be unpaid. |
| Is Leave loading included in step 5 other paid leave? | Leave Loading | Yes, unless it is clearly linked to a notional loss of opportunity to work overtime – which must be reported as overtime. Refer to this link (see other paid leave reporting examples). |
| Do we report shift loadings? | Loading | No, shift penalties are reported as Gross. Reference. |
| Do you have to update the Medicare section to "none" for all employees? When we checked this previously with TASS we were told no action was required. | Medicare | Yes, this will be required now. The Medicare field is mandatory and must have a value entered. If you have not previously had a tax scale that included this you are likely only required to enter none. |
| Am I able to have an example of how a Director and Board chair payment code should be set up please? | Paycode | Paycodes for Directors Fees should have the Payment Type field on the paycode set to "Directors Fees". Refer to this link for more details about Directors Fees. |
| Was the example for additional paycodes using Annual leave payout a cashout? or was this for annual leave on termination? | Paycode | Any leave that cash out during employment needs to be classified as "Cash out of leave in Service". It could be Annual Leave, Long Service Leave. Annual leave/LSL on Terminations are different |
| Can we find a document with guidance as to what payment type to put each each pay code? | Resource | The classification used by the ATO, has been replicated in TASS. Please refer to the ATO documentation for classification of payments and reach out to the TASS Customer Care team if you are unsure of a configuration option in TASS. |
| Are all the salary packaged amounts through an external salary package provider to be reported under step 7 "other employee benefits" or only those made directly through us in payroll? | Salary | All Salary Sacrifice amounts need to be correctly identified as either Superannuation or Other Employee Benefits regardless of whether they are made directly though payroll or via an external Salary Packaging Provider. If an employee is packaging both super and other benefits though an external provider you will have to split this into the correct categories. |
| Would you report school fees under Salary Sacrifice - Other? | Salary | Depends on arrangement between an employee and employer in terms of Salary Sacrifice but most likely NO |
| Do we report school fees as salary sacrifice - other? | Salary | If the Pay code is set as salary sacrifice (Group set as ERN not DED) then yes. |
| Not all school fees are salary sacrifice | Salary | Correct. School Fee deductions have no special reporting requirements |
| Can we put all "0" for those who don't provide tax file number? Or use 111 111 111 | TFN | You should leave the Tax File Number field empty and set the TFN Enquiry Date field to be 28 days after their start date. The system will report 111 111 111 until the date has passed and then report 000 000 000. |
| Our system is setup for STP 2 already.. and we have a payroll tomorrow... do we need to update the medicare & Tax for tomorrows payrun? | TFN | Yes. |
| We have an U16 employee that has not & will not be applying for a tax file number - is there a way around this? OR What about "Exempt from TAX" and they are under 18 and don't have a tax file number... does that mean we need to chase them for a TFN to ensure STP phase 2 works? | TFN | No, as long as their date of birth is correct on the employee record you can leave the TFN field empty and the system will automatically report 333 333 333 as their TFN which indicates they are under 16. |
| Looking at one of the employees that has been set up by our HR area does not seem to be a valid payroll employee and hence has no TFN. If I terminate them in TASS, will this be able to bypass the requirement in Step 2? | TFN | If that employee never had any pay run processed (never reported any income to ATO via STP), they can keep them in Payroll 99 for HR purposes |
| Sorry - I may have sent this question already. If I have an employee who was setup but did not actually start and hence does not have a TFN, will terminating them now solve my problem of having no TFN in Step 2 - my next pay run is period end 01 April so I am assuming I have to have all of these updates done this week in preparation for next week's pay run | TFN | They can transfer this employee to Payroll 99 for the time being until commencing work or this employee is not getting paid in next pay run. Therefore, doesn't report to ATO via STP. Or Can use 111 111 111 if no TFN declaration made within 28 days. When 28 days passed and still no TFN provided, then use 000 000 000. |
| Do you have a recommended time when to complete the update ? Ie First week of April or non payroll week ? | Timeline | As long as you turn on STP2 by 31st March, you're fine. |
| I will have a payrun next Monday. So I can finish it and then enable stp2, right? | Timeline | Yes. |
| So if we haven't yet turned it on then we do not need to update (steps 12 onwards) prior to completing the current pay run? | Timeline | You will need to be running TASS Version 55.4.130. Once STP2 is turned on, you will need to complete the remaining steps in the checklist before your next pay run. |
| Our fortnight end is Friday 1st April - pay on Monday 4th April - will that be ok? | Timeline | Any events submitted to the ATO from 1st April will need to be in STP2. |
| Can we still work in STP1 if we are granted an extension by the ATO? Do we just turn on stp2 later when we are ready? | Timeline | Yes. |
| What date does STP2 need to be installed by according to the ATO? | Timeline | 31st March unless the school has received their own extension from the ATO. |
| My pay period end is 1 April - we will transmit to the ATO on 31 March through STP and follow up with payment 01 April. Do I need to have STP2 ready for next week | Timeline | Any events after 31st March, must be in STP Phase 2. If. You submit to the ATO in Phase 1 on 31st March, turn on STP2 on 31st March then submit your next event with it on, that will be fine. |
| I may have missed it - but at what stage do I turn STP2 on - after all the steps have been completed and prior to the next payrun? | Turn On | STP is turned on in Step 12 of the checklist and must be turned on by 31st March. The remaining steps in the checklist must be completed before your next pay run. The first pay run with STP2 enabled does not have to be in March i.e., you can turn is on in March, complete steps 12 onwards in the checklist and complete your first pay run in April. |
| How is STP 2 " Turned On" ? | Turn On | Refer to Step 12 in the How to Enable Single Touch Payroll Phase 2 (STP Phase 2). All steps should be followed in this order and reminder that you must be running v55.4.130 to access the checkbox in Payroll Setup. |
