The business environment is going through a shift where less burden is placed on internal processes. This allows business owners and managers to focus on growing the business rather than putting so time and energy into tasks such as managing the payroll. It’s essential that your company has an accurate, smooth-running automated payroll system in place. In order for this to happen, a standardised process that accounts for all staff payments needs to be implemented.
In order to streamline the payroll process, the single touch payroll (STP) system was rolled out by the ATO in July 2018. Designed to make the entire process of collecting and delivering the correct data to the government, the system is designed to work seamlessly with payroll software packages that have made the necessary updated. This, of course, makes your job as a business owner easier, allowing you more time to focus on running and growing your business.
Let’s take a look at how the right payroll software can help you to streamline your financial obligations and leave you with more time to focus on the areas of your business that need more attention.
Understanding Single Touch Payroll
Until now, employers lodged payroll information manually on an annual basis. With Single Touch Payroll (STP), however, all employers have to upgrade their payroll systems and adopt a more streamlined approach. Employers are obligated to send the information of all the employees on their payroll to the Australian Tax Office on a weekly, bi-weekly or monthly basis. Effectively, this means that both payroll compliance and pay runs have been combined into one single process
STP makes it easy for businesses to connect with the ATO to submit the payment reports of their employees using the right payroll software. To make the entire process easier to manage, it’s crucial that businesses adopt software that is STP-ready. With the right software in place, you can have a more hands-off approach and be able to concentrate on other elements of your operations such has marketing, growing your client base and ultimately, increasing your bottom line.
Compliance Is Key
The Australian Tax Office set a deadline for all businesses with more than twenty employees to be STP compliant by the 1st of July 2018. Although employers will be exempt from penalties for the first year of reporting via STP, penalties will be issued eventually and compliance is not optional. If you haven’t already done so, it’s important to ensure your payroll software is up to speed to ensure the process runs smoothly and efficiently and that you avoid incurring any penalties going forward.
Be More Efficient With Payroll Software
With automated payroll software in place, processing your employees’ tax, wages, and other financial information is much more straightforward and can be done more efficiently as the potential for human error is eliminated. Utilising software means you will be able to ensure compliance and complete your payroll obligations in a fraction of the time you would with more traditional methods.
Focus On Other Areas And Grow Your Business
Using payroll software in your business simplifies what can often be a hugely time-consuming and complex task. With the time you will gain from not having to do this, you will be able to devote this time to other areas of your business that ultimately will lead to a more successful future for your organisation.
You can work on important areas such as customer service, product development, improving your marketing efforts, customer acquisition and looking at your budget allocation in more detail. With more time on your hands, you can develop new processes and streamline your business tasks to set your company on the road to success.
