Single touch.. Single touch.. Single all the way..

Single Touch Payroll

Accumulating hidden liability due to payroll run is an everlasting cash flow burden for the employers. Looking for cash balance to meet the activity statement payables or superannuation contribution is a nightmare. Tom and Jerry play between ATO debt collection services and the employer begins once the payable amount arrived upon submission of activity statements.

To ease the burden of the employers, ATO working out a new payroll model, called Single Touch Payroll or One Touch Payroll.

Highlights of Single Touch Payroll:

• Fortnightly pay run applicable to all employers, 26 pay cycles in a financial year
• Real time data updated with employers' account with ATO
• Payments to be made during pay run:
• net pay to employees,
• PAYG to ATO & 
• Super contribution to Super choice fund.

Advantages of Single Touch Payroll:

•  No accumulation of tax and super liabilities
• TFN declaration, PAYG Annual Summary & Instalment Activity Statement reports may be deferred
• Employees can get their income tax return pre-filled and ready for No Touch

ATO plans to deliver the program in line with their goal of Digital by Default, encouraging software developers especially payroll developers to incorporate the program within their software. Standard Business Reporting is going to be the data transmitting technology. 

GovReports keenly observing the program and will take appropriate action when the program is fully designed and released for software developers. Watch this space to know more about Single Touch Payroll.

More info: www.govreports.com.au

Electronic Lodgment Service embraces Standard Business Reporting - ELS2SBR

ELS2SBR

ATO answers  to the question, 'will you be turning off ELS?' as
'Yes. ELS will remain available with forms and services for Tax Time 2014 and 2015. It will then be turned off and no longer available.'
https://www.ato.gov.au/Tax-professionals/Intermediaries/In-detail/Our-changing-environment/ELS-to-SBR-program---frequently-asked-questions/

Individual Tax Return is the only form missing in SBR income tax return when compared with ELS forms. ATO timeline reveals, the last piece of the puzzle will be released in January 2015.
Electronic Lodgment Service is nearing happy ending by Jun 2015, after serving Australian tax system for nearly two and half decades. SBR is getting ready to replace ELS and step-in with more value added services to the tax practitioners.

Value added SBR features delivered as part of the 'The Coalition's Policy for E-Government and the Digital Economy' are:
1 Convenient services anytime, anywhere
2 Easier way to manage empower obligations
3 Digital mail box
4 Single authentication and authorisation solution
5 By product of natural business processes
6 More online services
7 Tailored information provisions and less interaction with ATO

GovReports, the leading SBR lodgment service provider, has most of the ELS forms in addition to the other SBR forms like PAYG annual summary, TFND, TPAR etc. The ITR form available within GovReports under ELS services will be automatically switched over to SBR, when it released in Jan 2015.

GovReports introduced ELS on cloud during tax time 2012 and extended to tax agents’ community in 2013. Thanks to the tax preparers and tax practices for the comments and suggestions to improve the lodgment experience, gaining error free status for GovReports in tax time 2014 [success rate 99.19%].
For more info: www.govreports.com.au

Big challenge for tax practitioners solved in one go

Accounting professionals are very conservative and resist changing, even if the change is in their favour. Developments occurring in and around the practice warranting them to implement the change, created a 'Do or Die' situation.

Standard Business Reporting program launched in July 2010 has created a whole lot of opportunities to re-engineer the practice to a quality advisory service. Paperless reports, automated bank entries in to accounting transactions, freedom from sticking to one computer are few of the advantages for instance. ATO's vision of convenient services anytime, anywhere starts with  Reinventing the ATO and Service Delivery Strategy. 

While releasing contemporary and tailored services, ATO aims to release Account List for the retail service consumers. Account List can be equated with  Client Update form frequently used by the tax agents through Electronic Lodgment Service but with value added.

 Now, a tax practitioner can,

• Get clients list with lodgment permission from ATO portal,
• SBR software can consume the list of clients in one go,
• New client details and permissions can be updated from SBR software,
• Any client information can be added/edited/deleted from SBR software &
• Running balance account of the clients

GovReports being a SBR cloud lodgment portal integrates the Account List web services and make it available for the tax practitioners. This automates the tax practitioners who are conservative or resist changing. Absolutely not necessary to spend time on learning new technology or migrate their practice into SBR portal like GovReports.

For more info visit www.govreports.com.au