File Xero pay with Single Touch Payroll

From 1st of July 2019 all businesses in Australia need to report their employee pay and super to the ATO immediately after each payroll.  This new system is called Single Touch Payroll (STP).

Luckily Xero has made it easy to file this pay and super details if you're using Xero payroll.

what's reported in a stp submission?

When you file an STP event of your pay and super, you'll be reporting to the ATO for each employee;

1. Earnings YTD
2. PAYG withholdings YTD
3. Superannuation liabilities YTD

You will also need to group allowances into classifications for reporting to the ATO.

NOTICE that you're only reporting YTD information to the ATO.  So there should not be any need for a reconciliation at the end of the year, because each report has the year to date information

Before you start

Ensure you have setup your STP in Xero

use stp to file a pay run

1. In the Payroll menu, select Pay Employees like normal
2. Process your pay run, or if you need to file a previous pay run, click on that particular payroll
   1. You can see the filing status of a pay run under the STP filing column (eg Pending, Filed or Failed)
3. If prompted, classify your allowance types in your pay run
4. Click Post Pay Run to finalise your pay run
5. Click File, then click File Now

Xero lists the STP filing status as Pending at the top of the page until the ATO accepts or declines the submission.

Congratulations!  You've filed your employee pay and super for STP with the ATO using Xero payroll!

What's next?

You'll always be looking for the green tick as ACCEPTED by the ATO, however it might be necessary to fix a submission error in your STP filing using Xero payroll.

If you realise you've made a mistake on your payroll and you've already filed it to the STP, you'll need to fix your payrun error, and re-file.

For more information about how STP read our comprehensive STP guide. It covers everything including how it will affect your business, how to set it up in Xero or MYOB, and how to fix filing errors.

We're here to support your business in the move to single touch payroll.  If you encounter any issues or need help, contact us, and we'll make it easy for you!