ATO Compliance for Small Business for End of Financial Year
As any small business owner will tell you, the end of financial year compliance for the ATO is a big undertaking. Single Touch Payroll reconciliations and lodgement (replacing payment summaries), June BAS, and for some businesses, Taxable Payments Annual Report or TPAR.
This year was the first year all businesses were required to lodge their payroll information with the ATO every time they paid their staff using Single Touch Payroll. It was a big change as many small businesses had to use an online system for the first time.
Whilst the payroll information was updated all year, you are still required to lodge a “Finalisation Event” with the ATO. This lets them know that those final figures in that event are the tax ready figures for your staff.
As for employees, no more group certificates. Now your employer uses STP, you will find that in many cases, they are unable to produce a hard copy of your payment summary. You will need to log into your MyGov account to access this information yourself.
In previous years, business had until 14 July to complete this information, however this year it has been extended for businesses with less than 20 staff until 31 July.
Of course, your quarterly BAS for the June quarter, if you lodge it yourself, is due 28 July. This is your final BAS for the financial year, so it’s more important than ever to make sure the information you provide is correct. If you are experiencing financial difficulties due to COVID-19, you can contact the ATO to apply for further time to pay with no penalties.
If you are using a registered BAS or Tax Agent to look after you BAS, you have a bit more time up your sleeve with the due date extended to 25 August 2020.
Remember, if you lodge your BAS monthly, your due dates are different, with your monthly statements due to be lodged by 21 July.
TPAR was introduced some years ago into the Building and Construction industries and is used to tell the ATO about payments made to contractors who provide services to business during the year. They use this information to identity contractors who haven’t met their tax obligations.
Since the 2018-2019 Financial Year, the Cleaning Services and Courier Services industries were included in this requirement, and this was further extended to the Road Freight Services, Information Technology Services and Security and Investigation or Surveillance Services on 1 July 2019.
If you are in one of these industries and have engaged contractors during the year, you must provide the TPAR report to the ATO by 28 August. The information the ATO requires is the ABN of the contractor, their name and address and the gross amount you have paid them over the financial year.
If you need a hand meeting these compliance obligations, get in touch with Hands On Bookkeepers who can help.
Written for the Clarence Valley Independent by Cathryn Hopson of Hands On Bookkeepers – Providing clarity around your finances giving you peace of mind so that you can focus on growing your business.