News

From 1 July 2022, employees who earn less than $450 per month will be eligible to receive super guarantee – provided they meet other eligibility requirements. You’ll need to check your payroll and accounting systems have been updated for super payments made after 1 July 2022 to calculate your employees’ super guarantee entitlements.  More information here

Details released on Service NSW website 3rd Feb 2022

“The NSW Government has announced the 2022 Small Business Support Program to help businesses survive the impacts of the Omicron COVID-19 strain.

You may be eligible to apply for a payment under this program if you:

• have a business or not-for-profit organisation with a turnover between $75,000 and $50 million (inclusive) for the year ended 30 June 2021 or the year ended 30 June 2020; and
• experienced a decline in turnover of 40% or more due to public health orders or the impacts of Omicron during the month of January 2022, compared to January 2021 or January 2020; and
• experienced a decline in turnover of 40% or more due to the impacts of Omicron from 1 to 14 February 2022, compared to the same fortnight in February in the comparison year used above; and
• maintain your employee headcount as of 30 January 2022.

Eligible businesses and not-for-profit organisations will receive 20% of weekly payroll as a lump sum for the month of February, with a minimum payment of $750 per week up to a maximum payment of $5,000 per week.

Eligible non-employing businesses will receive $500 per week, paid as a lump sum of $2,000.

The 2022 Small Business Support Program is for the month of February only.

More information, including eligibility criteria and how to apply, will be available soon.”

Started 1^st January 2022.

Whilst the start date for STP phase 2 remains 1st January 2022, the ATO is committed to supporting employers transition to STP Phase 2 reporting by being flexible and reasonable.

Australian employers will now have two more months to transition to the second phase of Single Touch Payroll as the ATO announces a blanket deferral in light of the current business environment.

Your software provider will let you know when they are ready for you to start filing under STP2.  We are expecting this to take place in stages over the coming 12 months, with all users converted by the dates shown below.

Please let us know if your software provider notifies you that your software is ready

This is what the software providers (DSGs) are saying on their websites:

Xero – Xero has been granted a deferral on the start date of the STP Phase 2 for our payroll software, and applies to all new and existing customers.

This means that all customers reporting STP using Xero Payroll have until 31 December 2022 to report their first STP Phase 2 pay run, instead of the 1 January 2022 ATO deadline. 

This gives our Xero Payroll customers more time to ensure that payroll records are STP Phase 2 compliant.

Details here

MYOB –  We’ve updated AccountRight to ensure it meets the new STP requirements. We’ve added some fields to your employees’ cards and updated the list of ATO reporting categories. We’ll let you know when to move to STP Phase 2, at which time you’ll be guided through the process.  More details for AccountRight

STP Phase 2 is an expansion of the ATO’s reporting requirements. To learn about what’s changing, visit the ATO website. If you’re already reporting via STP, you don’t need to do anything right now. We’ll be updating our Essentials system to comply with the ATO’s new requirements, and we’ll be in touch with more details soon. 

More details for Essentials

This is from the Institute of Certified Bookkeepers Inc

“With the implementation of the Director Identification Numbers (DIN’s or Director ID’s) pending, it will be important to understand the new obligations for those operating in the capacity of a Director, as failure to apply for a DIN within the required time frame will leave you open to both criminal and civil penalties. It is one of the first initiatives under the Modernising of Business Registers Program and will be a legal requirement. A person only needs to apply once for a Director ID, there is no need to apply each time you are appointed a Director.”

More details here