Single Touch Payroll Filing on or after 27th of September

You may have received an error when attempting to file your Single Touch Payroll (STP) in Xero or MYOB in the last few days.   This is due to the ATO updating their systems over the weekend requiring more JobKeeper information with your payroll lodgments.

If you have been receiving JobKeeper you need to make one off changes in your payroll settings to ensure your STP is filed correctly while still ensuring you are able to receive JobKeeper 2.0 in the future.

Please note: If you are not eligible for the JobKeeper extension post 28th of September, it is possible you could still become eligible during the December quarter so we DO NOT want to ‘STOP JOBKEEPER’ for any employees at this stage.
If you are not eligible in the months after September 2020, then you just do not lodge the monthly JobKeeper declarations. This will keep your JobKeeper open for the possibility of becoming eligible in the December quarter.

What you need to do now:

You now need to associate either Tier 1 or Tier 2 to each JobKeeper enrolled employee in Xero (or your alternative payroll system).

From 28 September 2020, the flat rate of JobKeeper will be replaced with a two-tiered system based on the employee’s employment hours:

1. Employees who worked for 80 hours or more over the four week period before 1 March 2020 OR 1 July 2020 will be entitled to the full rate (Tier 1)
2. Employees who worked less than 80 hours over the four week period before 1 March 2020 OR 1 July 2020 will receive the reduced rate (Tier 2)

Period of JobKeeper Payments

28 September 2020 to 3 January 2021

Full Rate: $1,200

Reduced Rate: $750

Instructions to Allocate JobKeeper Tiers To Employees in Xero:

• Click on Payroll, then Pay Employees
• Click on Payroll support page
• Click on the blue “Enrol Employees”
• Select a Tier for each employee that is enrolled in JobKeeper
• Then when you file your next payrun, the ATO data will be updated and your filing will be accepted.

Until the tiers are allocated, your STP payroll filing will fail. More detailed Xero instructions can be found here: Employee Tiers
As always, we are here to help guide you through these new processes.

Your Suntax Team