How to process STP (Single Touch Payroll) reporting

By July 2019, all businesses will be required to be compliant with Single Touch Payroll (STP). For further information on STP, please visit the ATO website.

How To Process STP Reporting

1. Generate your pay run as usual
2. Generate a Payment Summary report for the current PPE to reconcile against Agrimaster
3. Import the PPE into Agrimaster as per your usual process. Ensure the payroll imported reconciles to the Wagemaster Payment Summary report for the current PPE. 

   Very Important: Ensure the Cheques/EFT date is the same as the payment date in Wagemaster (Remember, the Payment Date in Agrimaster must be the same as the Date to process EFT file in Wagemaster.  This must not be amended in transactions after imported into Agrimaster). If the PPE and EFT Payment dates differ or fall into different months, the reporting in W1 and W2 in BAS reporting will be affected.

4. In Wagemaster, click Reports > Banking > EFT Banking (Process Payments), Please Note: The EFT Wizard process creates an EFT Banking file in Wagemaster.  This stage is required to trigger the STP reporting process in Wagemaster, no matter what method you pay your employees. This step will not submit the EFT payments to your bank or double pay your employees.  Agrimaster users will create their own .aba file when uploading internet banking payments from Agrimaster.   
5. Select Yes to Create EFT File
6. Select Yes to Creating EFT File. Do you wish to backup now?
7. Click Next for the Payment Processing Wizard 
8. Ensure the Bank Account information is correct.
   If this is blank, you will need to go back and fill this in. For more information on how to do this, read Company Bank Account Details. Click Next 
9. Ensure the Pay Slips EFT screen reconciles to the Payment Summary. Click Next 
10. Ensure the EFT Information Summary Screen is correct:
    • Check the total value of Wages reconciles to the Payment Summary Report
    • Ensure the total number of Wages (employees) is correct
    • The Self-Balancing Format Record refers to the ABA Format for some banks to identify the Account being Debited as a transaction line, however, do not use this file for the actual File upload as Agrimaster provides the correct format via the EFT section
11. Critical – ensure the Date to process the EFT file is the exact same Payment Date chosen when importing payroll into Agrimaster and the same payment date that the funds are deducted from your bank account. Click Next 

    

12. Click Finish 

    

13. Once the Electronic Funds Transfer Wizard is complete, the STP icon will have an exclamation mark on it, indicating there is a Pay Event that needs uploading.  Click the STP icon. 
14. The STP report screen will display a Pay Event to Report, as well as already reported Pay Events:
    • Ensure there are no validation errors displayed in the Status Column
    • If there are validation errors, double click the line to see the details.  Close STP Reporting screen, fix errors and reopen STP Reporting screen.
    • The rest of the screen (grid) will display YTD values for all employees who were paid in the current PPE.  These are the values that will be uploaded to the ATO.

      The screen (grid) can be customised to show more, or less, column headings.  To see which items are available for display, right-click the screen and select Customise.  Items from the Customization box can be dragged into the headings line.

      Select CANCEL to return to the previous screen to complete the process.

15. Highlight the Pay Events to Report line and select View Details. The first line on the Pay Event Details screen will display current period values. Balance this with the report printed above.
16. Select Report to ATO.  This will upload the YTD of all employees who were paid for this PPE, to the ATO. 
17. A Declaration screen will open. Tick the declaration box and select Report.
18. Wait for the upload process to complete which will result in a message in the Status column, i.e. Received at Gateway – awaiting a response.  This can take up to 30 minutes - Please be patient. Go make yourself a cuppa.

    Important: Prior to commencing this process, all apps and browsers should be closed so they do not interfere with the STP data transmission.

    Note: Super Choice is the external, securely hosted service provider that Access Group has engaged to deliver the STP Gateway connection and messaging service which guarantees reliable data delivery to the ATO for Wagemaster. 

    Types of payroll data reported to the ATO are wages gross, tax deducted, allowances, net wage, superannuation, terminated employees etc. 

    If you are also using Super Choice as your business monthly or quarterly Super Clearing House for Employee Superannuation, this is a separate business function which will need to continue as per normal.  

     
19. The STP Report screen may now be closed. Check this screen later to see if the message has changed. If the Status has changed to Success, then the process has been completed for this PPE and no further action is required.

Housekeeping

• Confer with your accountant, or the ATO, that all allowances have been set up correctly in Wagemaster
• A back-up is always required prior to:
  • Wagemaster software updates
  • When a pay event has been created
• Once a PPE has been submitted through the STP Portal, you must not delete Pay Slips or adjust leave in a past PPE period
• Leave adjustments for past PPEs must be done via:
  • Adjustments
  • Supplementary Pay Slips
• Employees will now access their Payment Summary information via their personal MyGov account.