Payroll Outsourcing & Processing Services – Australia wide

Payroll tax is the levy payable by the businesses to the state revenue offices based on the annual Australia national wages threshold stipulated for each state. It is payable either on a monthly or yearly basis. 

PAYG withholding is the income tax applicable to your employees’ wages and salaries, which needs to be deducted from the salaries and wages payment and remitted to the ATO either monthly or quarterly, based on your gross sales turnover. 

• Full-time employment where an employee works for a total of 38 hours a week. 

• Part-time employment where an employee works only for a few days or hours in a week with full-time employment entitlements calculated pro-rata. 

• Casual employment where an employee works on a casual basis with no specified hours and is not entitled to the benefits and entitlements applicable for full-time employees. 

• Labour hire where the employee performs the work on a contract basis, with the contract start and end terms clearly defined. This is commonly seen in the Information Technology industry.

• The age and right to work in Australia 

• Tax residential status 

• Adequate work cover insurance to be provided by the employer 

• Superannuation membership 

• Tax file number 

• Bank account details

• Personal/carer’s leave (formerly known as sick leave) 

• Annual leave 

• Long service leave 

• Public holiday pay 

• Compassionate leave 

• Weekly: 52 cycles per year 

• Fortnightly: 26 cycles per year 

• Bi-monthly: 24 cycles per year 

Wages, commission, allowances, bonuses are considered ordinary time earnings (OTE) and, accordingly, SCG is payable by the employer on such. 

Overtime wages don’t attract a SCG. 

• Single Touch Payroll (STP) reporting to the ATO at the end of each pay period processing. 

• Superannuation contribution to the nominated super funds through the clearinghouse on quarterly or monthly intervals. 

• PAYG withholding reporting and payment to the ATO monthly or quarterly based on whether you are a small, medium or large withholder. 

• Computation and reporting for the payroll tax on a monthly or annual basis to the respective state revenue offices based on which states your employees are located. 

• Annual actual wages declaration to your work cover insurances (this varies for each state) based on which actual premium is determined. 

• If you are engaged in labour hire contracts or supply services, a labour-hire licence is now mandatory. 

• End of financial year (EOFY) STP reporting and reconciliations to produce payment summary reports to your employees and the ATO. 

• Ensure the wages for June are paid and credited into the employees’ bank accounts on or before 30th June. 

• Ensure your superannuation for the June quarter gets paid by 30th June to qualify for a tax  deduction. If it’s not possible to determine the superannuation liability for June, pay April and May at least, which will act as a tax saver for you. 

• If you have any KPI bonus, commission, directors’fees or incentives that are payable relevant to the current financial year but could only be correctly computed and paid in the subsequent financial year, making a provision in the current financial year will also act as a tax saver. 

• Initial setting up and configuration of the employees with the proper employment classification and entitlements. 

• Pro-rata calculations for a new start and exiting employees. 

• Answering technical queries from employees. 

• Calculation of the complex payroll tax obligations and potential penalties if not reported correctly.

• Tracking of leave entitlements, especially long service leave, as it varies from state to state. 

• Ensuring the accrued employees’ entitlements are appropriately accounted for to assess realistic business performance metrics. 

• Frequent changes in working hours, overtime hours and pay rates requires accuracy and attention to detail. 

• Processing of parental leave, maternity benefits, redundancy and work injury-related entitlements and payments. 

• Correct reporting to the ATO and annual reconciliation for wages/PAYG withholding.

• Implementing good governance and controls in your payroll process to mitigate the risk of error and fraud.

• If your payroll system is a standalone system, periodical summary reports will get picked up  in your financial accounting systems. 

• Remembering that KPI or performance bonuses are to be paid exclusive of a superannuation contribution.

• Setting up and configuring your payroll systems, specific to your requirements. 

• Creating the master file data for your employees with date of birth, TFN, leave entitlements  and pay rates. 

• Process the pay run based on timesheets and sending the draft for your approval. 

• Once approved, we finalise the payroll, email payslips to employees, send you the electronic batch file for processing through online banking, and fulfil ATO reporting requirements through STP. 

• Superannuation processing either monthly or quarterly based on your reporting obligations. 

• End of financial year STP finalisation and reporting to the ATO. 

• Month-end reporting to track the various payment categories, changes over previous pays and gross summary journal.

• Round-the-clock support to address any queries that arise.

• Appropriate calculation of tax for fractured pays arising due to termination and onboarding  of employees outside the normal pay calendar.