What is the current status of Single Touch Payroll Reporting after going live on 1 July?

The stats are in, and it's not looking good. The response times for file submissions are excessively long, with delays being unacceptable, and key indicators are in the red. These are the early results, with only a very small percentage of Employers currently reporting. These figures will significantly degenerate when the "big end of town" transitions their hundreds of thousands of employees into the system. You can read the currently published stats here.

The amount of data being sent to the ATO is now not just once a year; it's the same data sent every pay period. A vast volume needs to be processed in real-time, and responses are also expected in real-time.

Those who have been involved from the beginning of the STP journey, including members of the STP Advisory Group, considered we could be here but hoped that we wouldn’t. The ATO's architecture is not holding up or performing as expected.

What does this mean from here?

It means some sleepless nights for John Shepherd (Single Touch Payroll Program Lead at the Australian Taxation Office) and the other significant members of his team who are responsible for ensuring the implementation of STP goes smoothly. There will be no "patting on the backs" for a successful implementation and achieving the desired outcomes—certainly not at this early stage—just more labouring for his hard-working, dedicated team.

For those currently processing payroll, a well-designed payroll system will continue to function and allow pay runs to be processed no matter what the state of the ATO, response or no response. STP is currently an adjunct to payroll processing and not an integral part. When combined with a "softly softly" touch to payroll reporting compliance by the ATO, some of us can still sleep at night.

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