Penalties here for non-STP compliant businesses

The grace period for large employers required to be Single Touch Payroll (STP) compliant since last year (1 July 2018) has ended with penalties now in full force.

Businesses with 19 or less employees who were required to start STP reporting from this year (1 July 2019) still have a year to transition without penalties.

There are various penalties that can apply for missing or late STP reports, but the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) has confirmed it would usually only apply these penalties where an employer is repeatedly late.

Penalties can include:

• $210 for each 28 days that STP report is overdue (to a maximum of $1,050). The penalty then increases to:
  • $2,100 for medium entities
  • $5,250 for large entities
  • $525,000 for significant global entities.
• In addition there is a penalty for knowingly making a false and misleading statement within a STP report.

The ATO has revealed that only 58,000 out of 70,000 large employers are currently reporting through STP. In contrast, at 30 June 2019 there were 107,000 out of 750,000 small employers who had commenced STP reporting.

Micro employers (1-4 employees) are allowed to report through their registered tax or BAS agent on a quarterly basis until 30 June 2021, but their registered agent must have applied for their concession by 30 September 2019.

Closely held payees will need to report through STP from 1 July 2020 and also have the option to report quarterly. The ATO will need to be notified of closely held payees for the 2020/21 financial year.

Seasonal and intermittent employers are eligible for the quarterly reporting concession and will need to apply for it by 30 September 2019.

If you have any concerns about your business being compliant for STP please contact us to help. Call 03 5443 0344.