Single Touch Payroll (or 'STP') will become required from 1 July 2018 for 'substantial employers', being those with 20+ employees. On 1 April 2018, employers must count the number of employees currently on their payroll in order to see if they qualify as a substantial employer. This can be conducted after 1 April, but employers must count the employers who were on their payroll on 1 April.
Each employee must be counted, not the full time equivalent, including those who are full time, part time and casual employees. Employees based overseas or absent or on leave (whether paid or unpaid) must also be counted.
If the employer is part of a company group, they must include the total number of employees employed by all member companies of the wholly-owned group. However, the following are those employers don't have to include in the headcount:
- employees who have stopped work prior to 1 April 2018;
- casual employees who didn't work in March;
- religious practitioners;
- independent contractors;
- staff provided through third party labour hire organisation; or
- office holders or company directors.
Note: although religious practitioners, directors and office holders aren't required in the headcount, if an employer begins reporting through STP, the payment information of these individuals will also need to be reported. This is due to payments being subject to being withheld and are currently reported in the Individual non-business payment summary.