As an employer, you are required to provide PAYG Summaries to your employees by July 14th unless this information has already been reported through Single Touch Payroll (STP). The PAYG Summary show how much you have paid the employee during the year, and the amount of tax that you have withheld. They must then be lodged electronically with the ATO via the Business Portal, BAS Agent Portal, Tax Agent Portal or SBR provider by August 14th.
With so much going on at that time of the year, it can be prudent to do a bit of advance housekeeping of your payroll records during June, to avoid any last-minute issues once the financial year ends.
This is particularly important for MYOB users, who are not able to process payroll in the new financial year until the last payroll year is closed off.
Check your employee details are correct. Update contact details and ensure Tax File Numbers are recorded.
Cross-reference your payroll data Run a Payroll report and a Profit and Loss report for the financial year to date. Compare the amount of gross wages recorded with the amount of Wages & Salaries reported on the P&L. These should be the same. Check that the PAYG Withholding amount agrees with what has been paid to the ATO. The June BAS provides an opportunity to adjust these balances.
Investigate discrepancies Reimbursements paid to employees through payroll may show up on the Payroll report, but may not accrue to Wages & Salaries Manual entries made against an employee but not through the Payroll function may not accrue to Wages & Salaries
Speak to your accountant Check whether you are liable to report FBT amounts
Employee entitlements Ensure any unused employee entitlements such as annual leave and personal care leave are flagged to carry over to the next year.
Do a dummy run of PAYG Summaries (still referred to as Group Certificates by some) Check amounts against Payroll Report Ensure any Salary Sacrifice made for an employee is showing as RESC (Reportable Employer Super Contributions)
If you do identify issues that you are unable to resolve, this housekeeping will give you the opportunity to find professional assistance before the EOFY rush.
