Eternity Group

Business services — Payroll

Payroll & STP Compliance

Payroll processing, Single Touch Payroll (STP Phase 2) reporting, PAYG withholding and superannuation guarantee obligations kept on time and aligned with your BAS and the year-end return.

Book a Payroll Scoping CallSee Our Process
  • Payroll
  • STP Phase 2
  • PAYG withholding
  • Superannuation guarantee
  • EOFY finalisation
  • Xero Payroll

Eternity Group Accountants provides business advisory and BAS services as a registered tax agent (TPB 25523469). Information on this page is general in nature and does not take into account your specific business circumstances. Engagement scope, fees and deliverables are confirmed in a written engagement letter before work begins.

Scope of work

Paid correctly, reported each run, reconciled to the return.

Payroll touches the ATO every pay cycle and again at year end. We keep the reporting accurate and the superannuation and withholding aligned with your BAS and your accounting file, so nothing surfaces as a surprise. For the bigger picture of how this sits within your compliance, see our accounting overview.

Pay-run processing

Pay calculation · payslips · leave accruals

Each cycle is processed on the rates and conditions you confirm — gross pay, tax, superannuation and leave accruals calculated, and compliant payslips issued to employees. Pay items are set up cleanly so the figures flow correctly to STP and the year-end finalisation.

STP Phase 2 reporting

Reported to the ATO each pay event

Every pay run is lodged to the ATO as an STP pay event, with gross pay disaggregated into the components STP Phase 2 requires — ordinary earnings, overtime, bonuses, allowances and paid leave — alongside the correct income type and tax treatment. Categorisation is checked, not assumed.

PAYG withholding

W1 / W2 · reconciled to BAS

Amounts withheld from wages, salary and director payments are tracked and reconciled to the W1 and W2 labels on your activity statement. The withholding reported through STP is cross-checked against the BAS so the two never drift apart.

Super & EOFY finalisation

SG quarterly · year-end STP finalisation

Superannuation guarantee — generally 12% of ordinary time earnings for eligible employees, with quarterly deadlines — is calculated each cycle and tracked so it is paid on time. At year end we reconcile year-to-date totals and lodge the STP finalisation declaration, marking employee income statements tax ready.

Suited to

Employers we run payroll for.

Small employers

A handful of staff, where the owner does not want payroll, STP and superannuation deadlines on their own desk. We run the cycle, lodge each pay event and keep the quarterly super on time so the obligations are simply handled.

Growing teams

Headcount climbing month to month, with new starters, terminations and changing pay items. We keep the STP categorisation accurate as the team changes, so the reporting stays clean and the year-end finalisation is straightforward rather than a reconstruction.

Businesses with award complexity

Where staff sit under a modern award or agreement. To be clear: award and industrial-relations interpretation is not legal or IR advice, and award questions are referred to Fair Work or an IR adviser. We process payroll on the rates and conditions you confirm and keep the STP and super reporting correct.

Catch-up engagements

Employers behind on STP lodgement or quarterly superannuation. We review the position, quantify the exposure and help bring lodgements up to date. Catch-up work is scoped and quoted separately from the recurring payroll fee.

Process

Set up once, then a steady cycle that runs itself.

A predictable rhythm — clean setup, an accurate pay cycle, and superannuation and finalisation that arrive on time rather than at the deadline.

Setup

We set up employees, pay items and leave categories in Xero Payroll, confirm tax treatment and superannuation details, and complete STP enrolment. Pay items are categorised for STP Phase 2 from the start, so the reporting is right from the first run.

Pay cycle

Each cycle is processed on the confirmed rates, payslips are issued to employees, and the STP pay event is lodged to the ATO that run. PAYG withholding and superannuation accrue correctly and feed straight through to the BAS and the super ledger.

Compliance rhythm

Quarterly superannuation is paid on time, withholding is reconciled to each BAS, and at year end we reconcile the year-to-date totals and lodge the STP finalisation declaration so employee income statements are marked tax ready.

The payroll year

Four rhythms, one clean finalisation.

Payroll compliance is not one deadline — it is a per-run, per-BAS, per-quarter and year-end rhythm. When each layer is reconciled as it happens, the July finalisation is a confirmation, not an investigation.

What delays a finalisation is rarely the declaration itself. It is a clearing account that never returns to nil, an unresolved pay event error, a terminated employee with a leftover balance, super records that do not match what the funds received, or reportable fringe benefits amounts still outstanding. Each is checked during the year so it cannot hold up July.

Every pay run

The STP pay event is lodged the day the pay is run. New starters, terminations and pay-item changes are reported as they occur, so year-to-date figures never need reconstructing.

Every BAS cycle

The withholding reported through STP is tied to the W1 and W2 labels on each activity statement, so payroll and the BAS cannot drift apart unnoticed.

Every quarter

Super guarantee contributions must be received by each employee's fund by the quarterly deadline. We schedule payment early, because the fund's receipt date is what counts — not the date you pay.

June and July

Final pay runs are reconciled, year-to-date totals checked against the ledger and super records, and the finalisation declaration lodged in July — before employees lodge returns on those figures.

What we need from you

The data that makes setup right first time.

Most STP problems trace back to setup. These are the inputs we collect before the first pay run — or before taking over an existing payroll mid-year.

Employee details

Tax file number declarations, super fund choice or stapled-fund details, bank details and employment type for each employee — the inputs that drive tax treatment and income type codes under STP Phase 2.

Confirmed rates and conditions

The pay rates, allowances and entitlements you have confirmed for each employee — settled before setup, not after the first run.

Existing payroll history

For a mid-year takeover: access to the current payroll file, year-to-date figures per employee, the STP lodgement history and the year's super payment records. Wrong opening balances are the most common cause of finalisation problems.

What the review catches

STP errors we find and fix.

The recurring issues we see when reviewing or taking over payroll files. None is exotic — they are the ordinary consequences of a rushed setup or a mid-year software change.

Misallocated pay items

Allowances lumped into gross earnings, overtime reported as ordinary hours, paid leave not separated out — the STP Phase 2 disaggregation done wrong at setup and repeated every run since. We remap the pay items and correct the year-to-date reporting.

Wrong tax treatment or income type codes

Working holiday makers taxed as residents, closely held payees reported as arm's-length employees, or a code never updated after circumstances changed — errors that flow through to the employee's income statement and distort their own return.

Duplicated totals after a software switch

Changing payroll software mid-year without transferring the reporting identity correctly can leave the ATO holding two sets of year-to-date figures for the same employee. We zero out the old record so a single, correct income statement remains.

Frequently asked questions

Payroll & STP — common questions.

Common questions

What is Single Touch Payroll (STP) Phase 2?

STP is the ATO reporting framework where wage, tax and superannuation information is sent to the ATO each time you run payroll, rather than once a year. STP Phase 2 expanded what is reported — it disaggregates gross pay into components such as overtime, bonuses, allowances and paid leave, and captures employment and income type, tax treatment codes and details that previously went to other agencies. In practice it means pay items must be set up and categorised correctly so each pay event reports accurately. We handle the categorisation and the reporting as part of the engagement.

What is the superannuation guarantee rate and when is it due?

As general information, the superannuation guarantee is currently 12% of an employee's ordinary time earnings, payable for eligible employees. Contributions are generally due quarterly and must be received by the relevant fund by the 28th day after the end of each quarter — 28 October, 28 January, 28 April and 28 July. Late payment can mean the deduction is lost and a superannuation guarantee charge applies. Your specific obligations depend on your circumstances and the relevant rules, and we confirm them in the engagement.

What is STP finalisation at the end of the financial year?

STP finalisation is the year-end declaration that confirms each employee's year-to-date figures are correct and complete. Once finalised, the ATO marks each employee's income statement as "tax ready" in their myGov account, which is what they (or their accountant) use to prepare the individual tax return. Finalisation replaces the old payment summaries and group certificates. We reconcile the year-to-date payroll totals before lodging the finalisation declaration.

Do you process the pay runs or only report them?

Both options are available. Some employers run their own pay cycle in Xero Payroll and engage us only for STP review, superannuation timing and year-end finalisation. Others outsource the full pay run — calculating pay, issuing payslips and lodging the STP event each cycle. We scope the right level of involvement with you and quote it in writing.

Can you interpret my award and tell me what to pay?

No. Award and industrial-relations interpretation — including pay rates, classifications, penalty rates, allowances and entitlements under a modern award or enterprise agreement — is not legal or IR advice and sits outside our engagement. We process payroll on the rates and conditions you confirm. Where an award or entitlement question arises, we refer you to Fair Work or a qualified IR adviser, and we set up the payroll once the correct treatment is confirmed.

We are behind on superannuation — what should we do now?

As general information, where superannuation guarantee contributions have been paid late or missed, an employer is generally required to lodge a superannuation guarantee charge statement and pay the charge, which is calculated differently from the original contribution and is not deductible. Acting promptly usually produces a better outcome than waiting. The right steps depend on your circumstances and the relevant rules — we review the position, quantify the exposure and help bring lodgements up to date as a scoped catch-up engagement.

An employee says their myGov figures look wrong — can they be corrected?

Yes. STP figures are corrected in the payroll software and re-reported to the ATO — in the next pay event, or as a standalone update event. After year-end finalisation, an amended finalisation updates the income statement; the employee should wait until it shows "tax ready" again before lodging. We also trace the error to the pay item that caused it, so it does not repeat.

How is payroll and STP work priced?

A fixed fee, scoped to your situation and quoted in writing. We base the scope on the number of employees, pay frequency, whether you want full pay-run processing or STP review only, and whether any catch-up work is needed. The recurring fee is confirmed before we start, and catch-up engagements are quoted separately so you can see what each piece of work costs.

Related

Where this fits in the bigger picture

Payroll never sits in isolation. The same reconciled file drives your BAS, the year-end company return, and the monthly bookkeeping that keeps it all current.