Now that you understand how you are operating and what information / data will be sent to the ATO with the STP process, it is time to undergo the data cleansing process before your first STP submission to the ATO.

It is highly recommended that you review and update (if necessary) your payroll data and configuration in the application as we want to ensure that you are sending correct information to the ATO first time around. The best practice is to check employee data, employer data, components setup, pay setup and processes.

Employer Data

The first and easiest data to review is the employer data. The recommended process here is to run the CSV STP Employer and Company Details report from a recent Pay Run. Using these two reports, check that the data is stored accurately in the application and is being reported correctly.

Employee Data

Reviewing employee data will typically require a substantial effort as you are essentially doing the same checks done at year end for an employee Payment Summaries.

The recommended process here is to run the CSV STP Employee and Employee Details reports for a Pay Run, then go through the reports to ensure the data stored in the application is correct and is being reported accurately.

The 'Gross to Net' report can also be used for checking YTD values. For more information on this process please see the /wiki/spaces/PAU/pages/121537181 section.

Components Setup

You will need to review your component setup in the application to ensure everything is set up as required. The responsibility is on you as an employer to understand and ensure what components are used to pay, how they should be set up (e.g. taxable vs non taxable) and where they should be reported on the Income Statement etc.

At a minimum the following should be checked:

Component Attribute review

Has the component been setup correctly? (e.g. taxable, superable etc). The CUSTOM27 report can be used to assist with this.

Allowance Categorisation Review

Review all Allowance components to ensure they are categorised correctly and are being mapped to the correct place on the Income Statement - e.g. should it be included in Gross Payments, as an Itemised Allowance, or should it not be reported on the employee's MyGov Income Statement.

STP reporting requires Allowances that are categorised and reported as an allowance to be assigned one of the following Allowance Types:

Car
Transport
Laundry
Travel
Other
Not Applicable

At present all Allowance components have been assigned to the default 'Not Applicable' category.

As part of the data cleansing process, you as the employer are required to update the Allowance Type for all Allowance components in your company.

If the Allowance should be captured as GROSS PAYMENTS or not reported on the Income Statement at all, then these should be left as 'Not Applicable'.

If it is an itemised Allowance and should be reported on the Income Statement as one of the above five categories, then:

Update the Allowance Type field to the correct Allowance Type
Leave the 'Other Allowance Type Description' field as 'Not Applicable'
However, if the 'Allowance Type' is set to Other, then write a short description on what it is in the 'Other Allowance Type Description' field.

Leaving an itemised Allowance set to 'Not Applicable' will cause it to not be reported individually in STP reporting, instead being grouped in with Gross Payments.

Pay Setup and Processes

This is a good time to conduct an internal audit of your payroll to ensure you are processing everything correctly and accurately. The responsibility is on you as an employer to ensure your payroll is compliant with ATO regulations.

For example, you might review the following:

Are you paying your employees correctly?
Are you calculating your employees superannuation entitlements correctly?
Are you reporting Fringe Benefits and Salary Sacrifice correctly?

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