STP detail not being received/recorded in full by ATO

STP submissions for the year have been processed successfully but I've just found out that the ATO has all the super recorded for my one employee but Gross Earnings are nil.

I have been using this app successfully since STP started and haven't done anything different.

Any ideas what to do?

RodM

Accepted answers

rodm

Thanks Rav for all your help.

I don't remember changing anything - BUT it seems that I may have and I'll cop that on the chin and be careful with the next pay run which I'll do before June 30 so that if I have a problem I'll know who to call.

Many thanks again.

Rod

Rav

No worries at all Rod, glad we managed to get there at least.

Hopefully its smooth sailing from here but if you have any questions or issues let me know.

Cheers

All comments

Rav

Hi @rodm

Are the gross earnings being recorded correctly for all/any other employees that you've included in the submission(s)?

Also, can I just confirm, when you check the STP submissions by tapping on the 'STP' tab, do they show as being sent as regular pay runs which will display the 'Pay Run' label or update event which will show the 'Update' label. I've just added a screenshot example for illustration purposes to the left.

rodm

Hi Rav,

As I said I only have one part-time employee.

I've attached screenshots for you to consider.

Reckon STP prob.docx

I have not changed the way I do this from last year which was fine.

Rod

Rav

Thanks for getting back to me Rod and for the screenshots.

Can I confirm that you're using the latest version of the Payroll App? (currently v2.22.16)

When did this first start occurring? I notice in the last screenshot there is $0.00 total gross and tax, do all recent submissions show this even though there is an earnings item entered into the pay run?

Also, are you manually overriding the tax component to $0.00?

Finally, what is the ABN that you've registered to your app account? If needed, I'll have a chat with our devs to take a look.

rodm

Hi Rav,

I've been out all day.

I have the current app version.

I have only recently been told by my employee that there is nothing at ATO re Gross Earnings, but the super is there.

Every month is the same. I do not take tax because of her financial situation.

Whilst last year was fine and I'm entering it the same, the earnings are not at ATO.

Our ABN is 93 159 390 482.

Rod

Market STP from ATO.pdf

Rav

Morning @rodm

Ok this is starting to become a bit clearer now and is making more sense. From my observations it looks like you're using a custom earnings item for this employee/pay run and more importantly, the 'tax applicable' option will be unticked in its setup.

You can verify this by going into Settings ➡️ Earning & Leave Items ➡️ Select the earnings item you're using for this employee ➡️ The setup of the item will be displayed.

I've added a screenshot below of an item from my own account just as an example for illustration purposes.

If you check the Pay Summary section for this particular employee then its more than likely they won't have the balances for these pay runs listed there either. This is because the Pay Summary and the STP submission only reflect data that is being sent to the ATO via STP submission which a non-tax applicable item won't as its not required to do so.

To accurately submit earnings to the ATO via STP you must use an earnings item that is tax applicable. You've also mentioned that you're not taking tax from the employee for certain reasons and the Payroll App will allow you to manually override tax to $0.00 if that's what you want to do however the earnings item itself must be designated as tax applicable so its subject to STP reporting. I've created a quick screen recording below as well which outlines how you can override tax.

Overriding tax on a tax-applicable earnings item

rodm

Hi Rav,

Thanks very much for your effort and

Reckon STP prob 2.docx

response. I'm glad it's getting clearer for you but not for me.

Please look at the attachment.

Whilst I have the Pay Frequency as Monthly, am I not using Ordinary as the Earning Item which has tax ticked but greyed out. In any case I cannot edit the Tax Applicable field in either Ordinary or Monthly.

I have always copied details from previous pay runs so I don't understand why all was good last year but Jul 21 on it hasn't been.

How do I edit Monthly Remuneration to Tax Applicable?

How do I fix the YTD pay runs.

If it helps I'll upgrade to Premium, although I'm surprised that the only payment method is Apple.

Rod

Rav

Ok first things first. There are two earning items in your screenshot; Ordinary and Monthly Remuneration.

Ordinary is the default one and Monthly Remuneration looks to be a custom one you've created. Which of these are you actually using when you're creating the pay run? You'll be able to see this in the Edit Pay screen when you create the pay run (screenshot example below).

To fix this employee's year to date balances and bring them to what they should be in reality to this point, you could do this by editing the employee's 'Initial Year to Date' section.

Firstly, go into this employee's Pay Summary tab in their profile and review the balances that appear here for him/her. I'm assuming its going to show $0.00 for earnings, tax and super. If that's the case then you simply need to enter the total balance of earnings, tax, and super that this employee should be at currently. I've made a quick screen recording showing this below.

If there ARE balances in the Pay Summary for the employee already but not to the level that it should be in reality then you'll need to input the difference.

rodm

Hi Rav,

As you said, first things first.

Look at the attachment and you'll see there is nothing under Earnings.

Is that the problem.

If it is, then I'd like to add Monthly.

It seems that's the most appropriate but it doesn't have Tax Applicable ticked and I can't edit it.

Reckon STP prob 3.docx

Rav

You can't use the existing Monthly Remuneration item if you want the earnings to be reported for the ATO via STP and that is because your 'Monthly Remuneration' item has been created without the 'tax applicable' option ticked and then used in pay runs. You won't be able to tick the 'tax applicable' option now because the item has been used in existing pay runs.

Is there any particular reason you're using that specific item and not the 'Ordinary' earnings item?

Either way, moving forward you'll need to change how you create pay runs so that they are being accurately reported to the ATO via your STP submissions and there are a couple of options you can utilise.

Use the Ordinary Earnings item on future pay runs. Override the tax component within the pay run to $0.00 if that's what you'd like to do

Create a new separate custom earnings item (call it Monthly Pay for example) and make sure that you have the tax applicable option ticked for it. Use this new item on future pay runs and override the tax component if you want to make it $0.00

Regardless of which of the above options you choose to utilise moving forward you will need to get this employee's year to date balances up to date and you can do so with the steps in the second half of my previous reply above.

Hopefully that's made things a bit clearer but let me know if you have any questions.

rodm

Hi Rav,

I think we ae getting there.

I've adjusted the Initial year to Date section - but how / when does that go to ATO?

I think I understand how to do June and onwards - but I still don't understand why it used to work and then didn't. But maybe I should just forget it.

Thanks for all your help.

Rod

Rav

Glad to hear we're getting closer to sorting this one 🙂

I've adjusted the Initial year to Date section - but how / when does that go to ATO?

Those totals will go along with your next new pay run that you send through your STP submission so its imperative that you get the earnings item aspect of it sorted beforehand.

The main crux of it is that whichever of the two options in my previous reply you choose to go with, it MUST be applicable for tax by having that option ticked in its setup.

but I still don't understand why it used to work and then didn't. But maybe I should just forget it.

Yes, this aspect is a bit of an unknown for me as well to be honest. The only thing I can think of is that perhaps last year you were using the default Ordinary earnings item and then at some stage later created the custom 'Monthly Remuneration' item (which didn't have the 'tax applicable' option ticked) and started using that until now..? That's pure speculation on my part though but it certainly seems like something changed along the way if it was working fine for you previously.

rodm

Thanks Rav for all your help.

Many thanks again.

Rod

Rav

No worries at all Rod, glad we managed to get there at least.

Hopefully its smooth sailing from here but if you have any questions or issues let me know.

Cheers

rodm

Hi Rav,

I'm sorry I'm back.

I've done June STP and thankfully all went well. The month's salary now appears at the ATO.

However, my attempt to correct the YTD salary has not been successful, so I'm looking for help again.

Reckon STP prob 4.docx

stpreporting-20220621093906110000.html.pdf

What did I do wrong and what do I do now.

Rod

Rav

Hi @rodm Good to hear from you again.

Ok, my explanation might be fairly technical so hopefully it makes sense but let me know if not. The balances that you see in the Pay Summary section from your screenshot above is calculated as a total of ALL paid payruns that the employee is included in + any Initial YTD that has been entered.

So in your second screenshot, it shows you have entered an ordinary earnings amount of $13,915.00 in the Initial YTD section.

The Pay Summary on the left shows a total earnings of $15,180.00.

Its calculating this by taking the $13,915.00 earnings from 'Initial YTD' plus whatever this employee has earned via their paid pay runs.

So to boil this down, at the current point in time right now, what should the Pay Summary totals be for this employee? ie. what are you expecting them to be in reality at this stage before any new/next pay runs that they are to be included in?

rodm

Hi Rav,

What the Pay Summary shows is the reality. It is correct, but what the ATO now has is the correct Super but only Salary for the June pay run. The "initial YTD" that you got me to do did not go to the ATO.

The ATO needs to show the $13,915 from the 11 pay runs July to May. 11 x 1265 = 13,915.

Rod

swakhlu01 .

@rodm If the June 2022 payrun that was successfully submitted to ATO is the last 2021/22 payrun for the employee, then your best option to get everthing upto date for the employee's ATO Income Statement will be to do the EOFY 2021/22 Payrun in Payroll App.

This should pick up whatever is showing in the YTD Summary and send to ATO. This will also make sure the employee has the correct Income statement to lodge the 2021/22 Tax return.

https://help.reckon.com/article/dxemdx8slf-payroll-app-end-of-financial-year-report