The Australian Taxation Office (ATO) are seeing some mistakes as employers move to STP Phase 2 reporting and want to help you get it right. The most common mistakes include:
- re-mapping pay codes or categories incorrectly: Check if you have pay codes for items you need to itemise separately, such as bonuses, commissions, and overtime
- continuity of year-to-date (YTD) reporting: If the solution you use requires you to input your existing YTD amounts manually, make sure you bring over all the required amounts
- incorrectly categorising allowances: You need to report all allowances separately in your STP Phase 2 reporting; this includes 8 allowance categories and one for ‘other allowances’. Only report an amount as an ‘other allowance’ if it does not fit into one of the 8 categories.