Payroll is one of the most integral parts of a business. However, it is also the part of the business that can become messy and stressful should you expand and have more employees. As a result, many businesses have started payroll outsourcing departments to companies such as R T Accounting & Taxation Services. Let us see how we can help improve your efficiency and keep employees happy.

What is Payroll Outsourcing?

Payroll Outsourcing is like most jobs you cannot or will not be able to do. There are specialists like us to take payroll off your hands. Like hiring a plumber if your tap is leaking. They are specialists, so it is best to let them handle what they are good at. And for you to handle your specialties.

Payroll Outsourcers can calculate your pay run cycle. As well as calculating any appropriate deductions in a timely and efficient matter. Along with this, we can also transfer pay runs into your employees’ accounts. As well as any obligations with the ATO (PAYG Withholding) and State Governments (Payroll Taxes). If you do not wish to fully outsource your payroll, that is fine as we can just do parts of the job you may not understand fully or not have the knowledge to carry out.

Why Outsource Payroll?

Payroll can be a long and arduous task for many employers, as well as there being many legal requirements and obligations, which can lead to some heavy penalties if things can go askew. Misunderstanding is not a valid excuse for getting things incorrect according to the ATO and the State Governments. For these reasons, many business owners prefer to leave it to experts such as us at R T Accounting & Taxation Services. It gives the business owner more time to spend on the actual running of their business, as well as peace of mind knowing that they are in safe hands with us.

What do Payroll Providers do?

We are capable of:

• Calculating pay runs (including the calculations of any redundancy payments, unused holiday pay, employee reimbursements, commissions and bonuses, and any allowances, you, as an employer may have given an employee)
• Deducting employee PAYG taxes as well as any payroll taxes based on which state and how many employees you have employed.
• Calculating any other employer expenses such as Superannuation contributions 
• Filing taxes with the ATO
• Physically making payments to employees based on your pay cycle whether it be weekly, fortnightly, or monthly
• Keeping payroll records

Types of Payroll Service

Our payroll Services can come in many forms. They can be customisable based on each client as we understand each client is different and unique. However, our services can be split into two broad categories:

Full-Service Payroll 

Basically, with the Full-Service Payroll package, we manage your payroll cycle from start to finish. Simply have each employee fill out our basic employee information sheet, TFN Declaration form, and Super Contribution form and we will take care of the rest.

Full-Service payroll is generally preferred by many larger scale entities as one entity looks after the entire set up and run through. We have our own secure cloud-based software to ensure that all data is kept secured and accessible for both the client and us the payroll provider. We will need to be kept up date with any changes to personnel, or changes to an employee’s employment terms or tax status, however that is very simple to keep a track of and we will tell you what information we require and when.

Do it yourself Payroll

Most Payroll tasks are administrative tasks that can easily be set up by the business owner. However, we can help you out with more of the technical stuff by calculating pay runs, taxes and other deductions and leaving you to do the rest.

Many small business entities prefer this as they generally do not have large turnovers in staff, which makes for a simple pay run.

Choosing a Great Quality Payroll Service Provider

Payroll is the most critical part of your business. You want employees to remain happy, so they continue to deliver the best work for you. You also will want to keep on top of any reporting obligations, so there is no hassle with your reporting come tax time. Keep this in mind when you choose R T Accounting & Taxation Services as your Payroll Service Provider.

Get Top Quality Service

With R T Accounting & Taxation Services, we are available day and night to help you and your business. We help you understand what services we provide and what you will need to handle within your business to ensure that every pay cycle can run as smoothly as possible,

Automation is key.

Our in-house payroll outsourcing experts are qualified with most Accounting Software Packages, so we can use the software you feel most comfortable with and already use. For example, it would not make sense for us to run payroll cycles via MYOB when you already use Xero.

Check Employees Details Regularly

With pay runs it is important to ensure that your employee’s details are up to date and checked regularly. We can set up reminders for you to check with your employees if they need to update their details on our system. We can give employees a deadline in which to give their information by so they can be paid correctly for the upcoming pay run. 

Secure Your Data

Many small businesses do not have the most secure systems. At R T Accounting & Taxation Services, the privacy and security of your business are our number 1 priority, we will ensure that all your information is kept in a safe manner that can only be accessible by those predetermined by us and your business.

Employee satisfaction is the key to the sustainability of a business. If your employees are satisfied, they’ll provide you with the best output. And there’s no better way to keep your employees satisfied than providing them regular payment. For this reason, a robust payroll outsourcing service is vital for the growth of any small business.

Generally, small businesses don’t have adequate manpower to manage everything. Most businesses have one in-house accountant in charge of managing the finances. As a result, payroll is always a struggle. And to make your life easier, outsourcing your payroll is always a good idea. 

So, you might ask, what is a payroll outsourcing service? Basically, it’s a way to outsource your payroll and employee payments to another company. In this article, we’re going to discuss everything you need to know about outsourcing your payroll!

What is Outsourcing Payroll Service:

Generally, the payroll system refers to the method of providing the employees with their payments. It helps to monitor specific details such as the employees’ working hours, their bonuses and benefits, taxes for the company and the individual employee, and certain other factors.

Payroll management is a complex process and requires a fair bit of effort to keep everything running. Any mistake in payroll can cause a lot of trouble; such as employee dissatisfaction and legal trouble during taxation. 

In order to manage everything properly, you can hire a specialized agency to manage your payroll for you. They manage all the necessary resources to make sure your employees are paid on time. They’re getting all the necessary support from your business. Everything is managed on time. This process is known as outsourcing payroll service. There are many companies that specialize in payroll management. To receive their services, you have to sign a contract with them. Although there’s a bit of an investment involved, the long-term benefits make the service worth the money.

Benefits of Outsourcing Payroll Service:

Now that we’ve discussed what is outsourcing payroll service, here are the benefits of outsourcing payroll service for a small business:

Saves Time:

Payroll management is a somewhat complicated process. And it requires a lot of time and effort to keep it running. Suppose you’re a small business and plan to use your manpower for payroll management. In that case, your inadequate manpower will struggle with managing everything. The entire process will take much longer than a company that specializes in payroll management.

When you’re outsourcing your payroll service, your accountants have time in their hands to focus on other aspects of your business, thus increasing your productivity to a great extent as well. 

Saves Money:

You might wonder how getting a payroll service saves money when it’s an investment in the first place. To begin with, when you’re investing in a payroll service, it’s going to cost significantly less than hiring a massive team of accountants for your business.

Furthermore, since your payroll is managed by a group of experts, the chances of errors are very slim. As a result, you won’t have to pay for penalties or fines imposed by the taxation service. Also, you might be able to apply for levies and tax cuts due to your payroll management. 

For this reason, outsourcing your payroll is more cost-effective than getting it done in-house.

Keeps Your Information Secured:

Your payroll information is very sensitive. As a result, it needs to be protected at every moment. Most reputed payroll service providers have a very robust mechanism in place to protect your information. These include encryption and password protection for your information. 

However, it’s essential that you’re getting your payroll done by a reputed payroll provider and ensuring they have a robust security system to protect your information.

Keep Your Employees Notified:

Certain payroll services have a backlog system. You can use it to keep your employees notified about their salaries, bonuses, taxes, etc. Basically, your employees can log in to the portal to see all the details of their payments. 

This is a great way to keep your employees satisfied since they already know how much money they’re getting and all the details available. So, make sure your outsourced payroll provider has this feature.

Precautions Before Outsourcing your Payroll Service:

Before you outsource your payroll service, you need to keep a few things are kept in check. Otherwise, outsourcing will only do more harm than good. These include:

Licenses and Accreditation:

A company needs to have proper accreditation and licenses to be considered a payroll service. So, before you get an outsourced payroll service, make sure it’s accredited, and all the licenses are valid. Taking services from an unlicensed company not only risks your information and create a loophole for mistakes, but you will also have to deal with a plethora of legal troubles. So make sure you’re getting your services from an accredited company.

Paying for Too Much:

While this isn’t a problem per se, most payroll service providers will try to coax you into signing up for multiple packages. These packages have certain features that you don’t need. As a result, you end up paying too much for services you don’t need. Considering that you’re a small business, this additional cost does more harm than good.

For this reason, we recommend that when you’re outsourcing your payroll service, you aren’t paying for too much or getting services that aren’t beneficial for you. 

Conclusion:

Payroll is an integral part of your business. It keeps your business steady and employees satisfied. However, it’s normal for small businesses to struggle with payroll, and outsourcing is a fantastic solution.

If you were wondering what is payroll outsourcing services, we’ve answered everything you need to know about it. We hope you find this article helpful!

When it comes to small businesses, managing everything is an uphill climb. The finances aren’t very steady, and there’s a lot of risks involved. Thus, taking calculated steps is very important in the world of business. Getting payroll services in eastern suburbs might be a game-changer for many people.

If you have employees, keeping them satisfied is an essential part of your business. If your employees are satisfied, they’ll provide more successful outputs. And, unsurprisingly, the key to employee satisfaction is regular payments, and top-notch management of employee payments.

Managing employee payments can be a challenging task. Especially if you don’t have a lot of accountants working for you. And having a payroll system can really be the game-changer for you! 

So, you might wonder whether gettings payroll services is a good idea since you’re already struggling to keep your finances comfortable. Here are a few benefits of getting payroll services in eastern suburbs that can take your business to the next level:

Benefits of Payroll Services in Eastern Suburbs:

Payroll Services in Eastern Suburbs Provide Risk management:

Payroll is a very complicated process, and keeping track of the payments is just as hard. Furthermore, you have to provide accurate descriptions of the amount of money you pay as wages annually during taxes. While providing the information can yield tax deductions, providing inaccurate information can cause more harm than good.

The payroll services you’re using should help you provide the documents. Also, since you’re paying for a service, the providers should be held accountable in case of any problems. Your payroll service provider should be willing to pay back any amount of fines due to mistakes in tax filing or the deductions missed. Thus, making sure you’re not spending too much during the tax time. 

Payroll Services in Eastern Suburbs Ensure Accuracy:

Managing payroll is harder than you think. There’s a lot of paperwork and a lot of details that you need to keep in mind. These include separate working hours for your employees, hourly rates, bonuses, benefits and tax deductions, tax rates and whatnot. So, getting it done accurately is essential.

Payroll services in eastern suburbs are experts in their field. They’ve worked for years in their field to make sure everything is top-notch in quality. So, they will give do all the calculations accurately and give out the best outcome. Thus, saving you from a lot of financial struggle and stress. 

Payroll Services Helps Maintain Employee Satisfaction:

Like we’ve mentioned before, the key to your employees’ satisfaction is regular payment. You have to pay your employees regularly to make sure they’re satisfied. When you have a good payroll service in place, the employees will get their payment in time without any hassle. 

Furthermore, some payroll services have a streamlined service which allows your employee to access their details themselves. They’ll find all the information about their payments, benefits, taxes, etc. on the go. As a result, they will always be up-to-date with the information regarding their payments. They can reach out to the accountants in case of any hassle. Thus leaving no room for error in the long run.

Payroll Services in Eastern Suburbs Save Time:

Payroll management is a massive task. Also, the workload gets much more severe for small business owners. Because you don’t have a lot of manpower, and you might even go for outsourced CFO services or accounting services to ease accountants’ cost. Thus, if you plan on managing your payroll by yourself, you’d have to struggle to make time for everything.

When it comes to payroll services, your service provider has adequate manpower to manage everything for you without any hassle. As a result, you’d get everything done in time without any hassle, saving you time to concentrate on other important business affairs.

Payroll Services in Eastern Suburbs Help you Take Better Decisions:

While this isn’t a direct benefit, this is still an essential aspect of your business. When you outsource your payroll management to a payroll service, you have a huge weight lifted off your back. The time and energy you had to invest by yourself to manage your payroll will be done by a company specialising in doing so. Thus, keeping you free from any hassle. Giving you enough time to engage in other parts of your business and invest in decision making.

Furthermore, some payroll services in eastern suburbs can provide you with a projection of how much money you will spend in that fiscal year. Thus, you will have a clear idea of your investments and how many money you’d have by the end of the year. Which can help you decide your future investments better.

Payroll Services in Eastern Suburbs Helps you Save Money:

You might be wondering how having a paid service can help you save money? Actually, it can! If you want to manage your payments in-house, you’d need to hire multiple accountants and manage everything for them. However, in a payroll service, you only have to pay a service fee on a monthly or yearly basis. 

Also, having employees mean you have to manage everything for them as well. Employee bonuses, benefits, deduction, etc. However, payroll services in the eastern suburbs will require a fixed payment. Thus, helping you save money that you can invest later.

Conclusion:

Payroll services can be a great tool for small business owners. Because not only do they keep the employees’ satisfied, they can also help keep the business afloat. The benefits provided by good payroll services in the eastern suburbs can be the boost your business needs. 

In this article, we’ve discussed six key benefits you’d get from payroll services in the eastern suburbs. We hope you found this article helpful!

Running a small business is very tedious. There are a lot of acceptable margins with a lot of room for error. So, it’s essential to keep everything in check. 

If you have employees, employee satisfaction should always be one of your priorities. If your employees aren’t satisfied with their work, you won’t get your desired result. One of the essential parts of keeping your employees satisfied is ensuring they get paid on time, and there are no complications regarding their payment. And that’s where a payroll service comes in.

Payroll service in the eastern suburbs generally helps you organize the payments, manage tax papers, and keep everything in check. However, their advantages go beyond that. In this article, we will discuss some of the key benefits of getting a payroll service in the eastern suburbs. Let’s begin!

Benefits of Getting a Payroll Service:

Employee Satisfaction:

Satisfied employees are the heart of your business, and if the payment isn’t regular, your employees are likely to be dissatisfied. Generally, in small companies, employees are more concerned about their payment due to markets’ instability.

A payroll service will ensure your employees get the payment on time. Since your payroll provider will do all the paperwork, the chances of delays or mistakes are minimal. Thus, your employees will be satisfied without hassle.

Furthermore, if you have a comprehensive payroll system, your employees will get to see their net worth. They’ll get to know how much they’re making and how much they’ll make in the future based on their performance. This keeps employees motivated for the long run.

Reduced Workload:

Small businesses generally don’t have a lot of manpower. Very few such companies have in-house accountants to deal with the financial documents. As a result, if you have multiple employees in other departments, your accountant suffers to make all ends meet. 

However, if you have a payroll service for your business, your accountant won’t have to struggle. Even if you’re using a payroll software, your accountant still has a lot more freedom when working. 

Legal Affairs:

When you have employees for your business, you have to adhere to a lot of laws. If you’re not aware of them, you might end up with fines. However, a payroll service in the eastern suburbs will know all the legal matters and technicalities. As a result, they’ll ensure you aren’t breaching any laws with your current payroll. 

Benefits During Taxation:

When you’re paying taxes, you might often struggle with the paperwork. You have to submit details of your payroll to the relevant authority when filing your taxes. Any discrepancies during submission can cause trouble for you.

To make life easier for small businesses, the Australian government provides multiple lucrative benefits and tax cuts to business owners. However, you’d need valid paperwork to be eligible for them. You might be eligible for benefits based on your payroll, and a payroll service can make it easier for you. 

Strategic Planning:

Having a proper payroll system means you have all the information you need about your employees readily available to you. You can see how much money is being spent as payments, individual payments and bonuses, etc. 

Since you have all the information readily available, making financial decisions are significantly more manageable. You can use this information to decide future business plans, make other investments, etc. 

Time-saving:

Maintaining payroll generally is a tedious process. Based on your business, you might need to prepare your payroll once or twice a month. All of these require a lot of paperwork, details of employees salaries, bonuses, insurances, etc., which can take up to 10 hours a month based on the number of your accountants and the number of employees.

However, if you outsource your payroll management to a payroll service in the eastern suburbs, they will save you from all the hassle. They will make sure your employees have received their payments in time; all the paperwork is complete. Thus, saving you a considerable amount of time to concentrate on other matters related to your business.

Increased Monitoring:

If you’re using a payroll software, you can use it to monitor your employees better. A digital payroll system monitors your employees’ entry and exit times, the number of leaves they’ve taken, and their working hours. As a result, you can see which employees are working better and aren’t living up to your expectations.

This information comes in handy when you’re paying your employees year-end bonuses and providing feedback based on their performance.

Improved Company Reputation:

Maintaining a good reputation is vital for small businesses. While having a payroll system won’t directly affect your reputation, it improves many minor things that can ultimately uphold your company’s reputation.

Things like employee satisfaction, regular payments, positive taxation records can help a business significantly. These small details can put your business on the map as a reliable and trustworthy employer, which will attract future job-seekers to your company. Furthermore, this draws your businesses to customers as an employee-friendly company. 

Conclusion:

When it comes to running a business, there’s a lot more than meets the eye. Even the slightest error and the future of your company can come crashing down. For this reason, being ever vigilant about critical factors such as employee payments is important. 

A payroll management system can help improve your business drastically. Although there’s a bit of initial investment involved, the benefits are massive. A good payroll service might be the boost your business needs at the moment.

In this article, we’ve discussed some of the most significant benefits of having a payroll service in the eastern suburbs for your business. However, there are other small benefits, as well. We hope you find this article helpful!

Managing payroll service is one of the most complicated parts of running a small business. Most small businesses generally have little manpower. Thus, most of them don’t have in-house accountants. As a result, managing the payroll and paying taxes accordingly becomes troublesome.

One of the best ways to deal with payroll is to get a payroll service. A payroll service would manage your paperwork, make the payment process smoother, and help you submit your documents during tax times. 

However, getting payroll services in the eastern suburbs isn’t that easy. Not every service is worth the investment. So, you need to take a few things into account before getting a payroll service.

In this article, we’re going to discuss a few essential factors that you need to consider before getting a payroll service in the eastern suburbs. Let’s begin!

Factors to Consider Before Getting a Payroll Service in the Eastern Suburbs:

Type of Payroll Service:

There are many types of payroll services in the eastern suburb for you to choose from. Generally, small businesses don’t have an in-house accountant due to financial constraints. However, small businesses can have bookkeepers who will maintain payroll-related information for your business. You can either hire a bookkeeper or choose a bookkeeping service for your business.

Furthermore, you can also opt for a digital payroll system for a more “hands-on” approach. There are two types of digital payroll systems, online and offline software-based payroll. In an online system, most of your information stays on the cloud. So, you can access that information anytime, anywhere you want. However, you’d have to pay for cloud storage, constant internet, and regular software subscription.

However, you can save a bit of money by getting offline software. You can store the information on your computer and access it from there. There aren’t any cloud computing or software update costs. But, you might lose your data if your computer goes out of order or your folders get corrupted.

Services offered:

Your payroll system for eastern suburbs should be comprehensive. It should deal with all the nitty-gritty of your payroll. From paying your staff to filing taxes, your payroll should be able to get everything done.

When you’re getting a payroll service in the eastern suburbs, make sure it provides you with the basic necessities. These include; payroll processing, filing necessary taxation, making adjustments after every new recruitment, annual reports, etc. Prioritize these before other features.

However, other additional services, such as mobile access, self-service, PTO management, etc., are welcome additions that can massively help your business. So, make sure you’re always going for a feature-packed service.

Cost:

Now, let’s talk about the elephant in the room, the cost of getting a payroll service! Most small businesses opt for a cost-effective solution due to financial constraints. However, getting the cheapest shouldn’t always be the option.

Investing a bit of money in your payroll can have its own benefits. These include ease of payment and eligibility for subsidies. Furthermore, some payroll services in the eastern suburbs have hidden costs involved. So, make sure you know all the details before investing your money.

Security:

Whenever you’re getting a payroll service, make sure it’s secure. Your payroll provider will have to deal with a plethora of sensitive information. Information such as the number of employees in your business, your payment details etc. is extremely sensitive. 

Ensure your sensitive data is stored in secured servers, and the information is delivered through secure channels. Compromising your information to save up some money can be suicidal in the long run.

Ease of Use:

Payroll is a complicated task. But, payroll management shouldn’t be rocket science. Your payroll service should be easy and efficient. Whether you’re using digital services or consulting an office, it should be easy to work with.

If your payroll service isn’t user-friendly, we recommend getting a new service immediately.

Demo Service:

This is eligible for people who are availing online services. Some online providers provide a free demo of their service to attract users. In such demos, you either get the full service for free for a few days, or some benefits for one month. 

If your preferred service has a demo available, try to avail it. This will give you an idea of the payroll service and i’s technicalities. If you like the demo service, you can pay for the whole deal.

However, juggling around demo services for too long can be detrimental. So, make sure you make your decision quickly.

Reviews:

Before you sign an agreement with a payroll service in the eastern suburbs, do your research. Look for their old clients and their reviews of the business. Reach out to their clients and get a complete idea about their service. If the reviews don’t live up to your expectation, don’t go for it!

Liabilities:

To err is human, mistakes can happen any time, and that’s normal. However, the reason you’re receiving a payroll service is to avoid penalties due to errors in your tax documents. 

However, your payroll service should be liable for their mistakes. If they make any mistake in the paperwork, they should be willing to pay the penalties and reimburse your losses. Otherwise, not only you’re paying for a service, but you’re also paying for their mistakes. 

Qualifications and Accreditations:

Every good payroll provider should have enough documents to back up for credibility. There are specific certifications and accreditations a payroll provider should have to run a service in Australia.

So, if you’re getting a payroll service in the Eastern Suburbs, make sure they’re qualified enough to deal with your information.

Conclusion:

Payroll is an integral part of your business. Not managing your payroll can lead to employee dissatisfaction and a plethora of problems. So, getting a good payroll service might be the boost your business needs in the long run.

However, you shouldn’t just get any payroll service for you. You need to consider a few factors beforehand. In this article, we’ve discussed these factors o help you out. We hope you find this article helpful!

COVID-19 has negatively impacted many different industries. Some businesses have thrived through the pandemic and others have weakened. However, the pandemic has made one thing clear, your business accounting team/accounting partner / outsourced accounting firm/payroll partner is your hero at the moment. Accountants and payroll specialists are giving you support. And also knowledge on how to get through the crisis, assisting you with your cash flow, your payroll legislation, staffing challenges. And the constant threat of further lockdowns and business shutdowns. 

Even though Australian COVID-19 numbers are low, the future is still looking bleak. Borders are closed to international visitors, and consumers are watching every dollar. On the surface, we may think that things are normalising. Offices are reopening, shop floors are filling up, people are out and about. However, below the surface there is chaos. And the recovery from this COVID chaos is where accountants and payroll departments are going to work harder than ever to help your business recover to its full potential. For your business, recovering to its full potential may mean that you need to broaden your service offerings. Or just simply take a look at your current processes and revenue streams and streamline where you can.   

Recovery is going to look very different for every business. And will present new challenges for business owners, leaders and teams. Expectations are unknown until you assess the situation you are in. We are here to help you look at what you can do to start your business on its recovery plan, and how your payroll team/partner is a key function for you to focus on. 

Starting your recovery

Every business wants to be busy – and see their business growing. But there is no point being “busy” if your pipeline of work is not earning you the right profit margin, generating revenue, and raising your profit. Now that 2021 is approaching, make time to review, assess, and analyse your processes and goals of your business. A good place to start is looking at outsourcing your payroll and accounting functions to specialists that can help you analyse the data and reports you have, and assist you with ideas and strategies for the future. 

In addition, there is new technology on the market that can assist you and your business to have an efficient payroll and streamline your basic data entry, low-level bookkeeping, and business as usual financial admin. Your chosen accounting and payroll partner can also support you in using the technology to its full potential – retrieving payroll and business reports and data needed to have a full view of your business. There is a lot of value in allowing cloud solutions and applications along with your accounting and payroll partners do the heavy lifting for your business, while you and your teamwork on what you do best – client liaison. Your number one priority is to listen to your client’s challenges and feedback, finding the best possible solutions for them. 

Increase your business profitability

Every business will have different issues, threats, and opportunities by the end of 2020. There is no one size fits all strategy that will help a business achieve post-2020 recovery. As a business leader, there is a lot of work ahead of you, and you need to be aware of what is going on in the marketplace and in your team. Your teams are your front line in the recovery phase – and your leadership needs to adapt accordingly.  

To help you adapt and understand how you can start your recovery, we have outlined a few key foundational steps that can be followed to increase your business survival. Give your business a fresh start in 2021. 

1. Determine your financial health

Before you even think about what you need to do for business recovery, you need to determine your financial position, your revenue streams, your profit margins and your payroll. You also need to ensure your financial statements are up to date. It will also be helpful to determine your short-term cash flow commitments. 

2. Review your business’ mission

Once you have assessed your business revenue streams and have a clear understanding of where your profits are coming from, think about what areas of expertise you want to focus on and who your ideal clients are. The clearer you mission is, the easier is it for you and your financial advisors to strategise how you are going to grow and recover your business in 2021.  

3. Employee care

Your employees are the key to your business success. Taking care of the wellbeing of your staff is imperative for your business success. Keeping your staff engaged and informed, understanding their expectations will allow them to feel valued and supported. Involving them in business issues and ensuring that they are aware of business strain will give you a more cohesive and practical team. In addition, if you keep on top of your payroll, you guarantee that their benefits and wages are still valid. 

4. Review your customers

Our consumer behaviours and decisions are what keep businesses ticking. COVID-19 has changed the way businesses also interact with their customers. As an example, 44% of global consumers indicate they would be more likely to do grocery shopping online as a result of the pandemic. For a business to survive, it needs to understand how its customers will interact with them and adapt accordingly. 

5. Update your technology

There are so many cloud technologies that can change the face on how your deal with your accounting and payroll. Your financial data, documentation, payroll and internal practices have the possibility to be managed on one single platform. This allows you to streamline your payroll and HR processes, allowing you to access client information, financial reports and data easily and remotely.  

6. Review your processes

If there is a process that can be automated and performed more effectively through the use of software – then automate it. Some processes to look at can start from data entry, to payroll management. These things can be automated, giving you’re the freedom to access data outputs and high-level workflows. 

7. Outsource where you can

Business recovery after COVID-19 is going to be challenging. Outsourcing some aspects of your business will allow you to focus on building your business back up. Additionally, working together and partnering with outsourcing professionals can give you the support you need to get on the road to recovery. You can start small by outsourcing all your payroll function and accounting needs. Working together with tax and financial specialists ensures you get the input and guidance on where you can focus your finances to grow your profits. In addition, outsourcing your payroll function will ensure that all the legislative knowledge required to complete payroll taxes is taken care of. 

It’s going to be a tough road ahead, however, there are plenty of ways that you can ensure your business can stand out from its competitors and creates a unique business offering. By outsourcing, seeking advice, and working together with financial advisors/accountants, you can set yourself up for a successful road to recovery. Boost your confidence in your business’ road to recovery from COVID in 2021. Have a chat with us at RT Taxation accountant services for small businesses. We want you to feel confident in our financial expertise while you focus on building your business.

Annual payment summaries were required for employees to file their tax returns at the end of each financial year. But one of the benefits of the new Single Touch Payroll (STP) reporting system — one that, interestingly, has not been widely publicised to date — is that it will make the issuing of such summaries redundant.

Under the new digital system, employers feed payroll data to the tax office automatically with every pay run, including year-to-date data on employee earnings and tax withheld.

This will be made available to employees in real time via their myGov accounts, or through their tax agents’ portals, eliminating the need for employers to manually generate a report for every employee at the end of the tax year.

In a guide for employees on the incoming changes under Single Touch Payroll, the ATO said that “your employer is not obliged to give you an end-of-year payment summary for the information they report through Single Touch Payroll”, noting that the law has changed to reflect the new reporting system.

“Your payment summary information will be available in myGov at the end of the financial year,” it said.

“Your payment summary information will be called an income statement in myGov. This is the equivalent of your payment summary (some people may still refer to it as a group certificate).

“We’ll send a notification to your myGov inbox when your income statement is ‘tax ready’ so you or your tax agent can complete your tax return.”

The guide notes that the roll-out of STP is being staggered, and that some employers may opt to still provide a payment summary under their first year of reporting.

In addition to wages and tax information, employees will also be able to see employer payments of superannuation contributions via their myGov account.

Single Touch Payroll is already being used by employers with 20 or more staff members since it was introduced on 1 July 2018, making this the first year-end they will be able to avoid generating payment summaries.

It was extended to smaller employers from 1 July this year, making the end of the 2019–20 financial year the first time that most small business employers will be able to go “payment summary-free”.

Quarterly reporting for closely held payees

The ATO has shed light on how employers will be able to report quarterly for closely held employees under the new single touch payroll regime, including the ability to make amendments before extended finalisation due date.

The Tax Office previously announced that the closely held group will be granted a one-year exemption from Single Touch Payroll reporting, with employers starting quarterly reporting from 1 July 2020.

The ATO’s definition of a closely held employee is one who is a non-arm’s length employee, directly related to the entity from which they receive payments, including family members of a family business, directors of a company and shareholders or beneficiaries.

Recognising that closely held payees are not always paid on a regular basis or a regular amount, ATO director Michael Karavas said the agency will adopt several methods for employers to make reasonable estimates to report on a quarterly basis.

The ATO will allow employers to calculate the amounts through actual withdrawals, not including payments of dividends or which reduces the liabilities owed by the business entity to the closely held employee; 25 per cent of the salary or director fees from the previous year per quarter; or by varying the previous years’ amount within 15 per cent of the total salary for the current financial year.

“If you lodge quarterly using one of the methods, then the ATO will accept that you made a genuine effort to meet your Single Touch Payroll obligations and that will allow you to do that finalisation and make any adjustments at the time you do your tax return at the end of the year,” said Mr. Karavas.

While other businesses will have to provide a finalisation declaration by 14 July each year, the ATO has granted an extension to closely held payees to the due date of their income tax return.

“We are not saying that you need to know your final position by 14 July, but we are saying you have made a reasonable estimate, each quarter reported throughout the year and by doing that you are able to make reasonable adjustments at the end of the financial year,” said Mr Karavas.

“You’ll be able by the due date of your tax return, make that finalisation of what your actual final salary and wages or directors fees are. That finalisation will then make information available through pre-fill for that person’s tax return”.

Generally, to determine the productivity in the system of payroll, payslips no of per payroll Full-Time Employee is used. But, actual consideration should be given to the processing of payroll Productivity.

In-house vs outsourced is another major factor. all of these factors confirm that the system is analyse in correct way. 

Its Importance

The number of per payroll payslips is used to measure the payroll productivity of the resources of payroll as a group and as people. In addition to the fact that this measures efficiency, yet it additionally distinguishes matters that are contrarily affecting profitability.

Strategical Implications

Best Performing payroll organisations are 56%  more productive than others. They target some important areas:

– Ommison of copy processes

– Improving processes in the the enterprise

– Create a single sourcing payroll platform

Although attention to these factors improves payroll productivity, companies should also check the method of sourcing when apply this method. 

We also discovered that payroll organizations that are profoundly gainful additionally advantage from lower activity costs.

When utilizing the number of payslips per finance FTE as an efficiency measure, it should be standardized to incorporate thought for the sourcing alternative, the quantity of pay cycles, and quantity of workers. 

All of these may effect on the output.

Are You Know?

• Around 1.5 Payroll FTE ought to be answerable for management of payroll of 1k workers 
• On normal, for every hundred workers, there are a minimum of 79 inquiries every year 
• 24 to 48 hours The normal analysis time for the inquiry a payroll.
• The most basic inquiry is identified with payslip questions – 25 percent 

For business pioneers seeing approaches to help profitability to counterbalance increment in labour and creation costs, they ought to think about these functioning factors: 

– Are there running manual cycles that might be computerized? 

– Because of the system limitations is the processes have baggage steps?

– Is information entered in various spots? 

– Are processing time slowing due to older systems?

How Can We Help?

Payroll is one of our main business services and should not be something you need to stress about. Our expertise are dedicated in controlling the whole payroll cycle from first to last, however frequently you require. 

The service surely dispel the need for our clients to gain payroll knowledge give chances our clients to concentrate on providing data that relate with the companies objectives and strategic.

R T Accounting & Taxation Services boasts a qualified and experienced payroll team, having been in the industry for over the decade. The R T Accounting & Taxation Services team are in the heart of the Eastern Suburbs of Sydney and have great knowledge on New Zealand and Australian legislation of payroll.

STP – Single Touch Payroll

As per the current system, employee’s yearly payment results are necessary to complete files of their tax returns. And it’s a required work at the last of financial year.

However, as per the new STP system, issuing annual payment summaries are not mandatory. This is one of the major benefit of this unique payroll system.

According to the new system,

The tax authority gets the payroll data with tax withheld info of the employees automatically. And this is the employer’s responsibility to send this data to the tax office accurately.

The most interesting thing is, it made the job easier for the employers. Because, as a result, they no longer need to do the report that they had to do manually at the end of the tax year for each employee. Through myGov accounts or tax agent’s portal, it will be open for each employee on time.

Australian Taxation Office confirmed the issue in one of their guides that, for the information the employers report via single touch payroll system, it’s not binding for them to provide end of year summary for that info to employees. The bottom line is that to be in line with the new reporting law, this law has been changed. 

ATO also confirmed that at the end of every financial year, employees get their payment summary in myGov.  Employees will receive this summery like an statement of income form. After completing the statement, employees will get a notification in the inbox of their myGov and ready to do their tax return.  

In addition to main info, employees will also check employer contributions to superannuation via their myGov account.

Ever since it was created on 1^st July of 2018, employers who have 20 or more worker have been using this special payroll system. 

But from 1^st July 2020, it was also open for the smaller employers. This is the maiden time for many small business owners to experience a financial year with this facility.

Reporting Quarterly For Closely Held Payees

Also, the Australian Taxation Office highlights according to the new STP system how employers quarterly report for closely held employees, with the power to make alternations before the due date of an extended completion. In earlier, ATP declared that the closely held group will be allowed from STP reporting a one-year exemption. 

But who is called a closely held employee? According to the Australian Tax, Office definition is the person who closely engages with the entity from whom he receives payments. 

ATO director M. Karavas recognise that closely held payees don’t always get regular basis payment. He also said that to make quarterly basis report, an agency can apply various methods.

Employers are allowed by ATO to count the figure via real withdrawals, except dividends payment and anything that reduces business liability related to the closely held employee. 

Mr Karavas also said, if you are following any of the methods to report quarterly, then the Australian Tax Office recognise that you tried to follow the obligations of STP and then they give you permission to do any adjustments during your tax return. 

When other business entity have to make declaration of finalisation within 14 July every year, ATO give facility to make it income tax return due date the closely held payees.

Mr Karavas ensure that it’s not necessary to know the actual positon within 14 July. However he said that to make an appropriate estimate. It helps you to make any necessary adjustments or corrections at the financial year end. 

For micro-businesses, the ATO recently introduced STP products by a detailed register, with currently available several options.

If you are having any troubles with STP reporting, get in touch with one of our Payroll Specialists at R T Accounting & Taxation Services and ensure that you are STP compliant.

COVID-19 – it has been the most talked about topic of 2020. It has changed our social eco-system and transformed the way businesses work. It is the year where online working finally becomes the norm. Shifting to an online business model has brought forward issues to businesses’ payroll services.

As a small business owner, you’ve had a big year and faced many unprecedented changes to your payroll. There have been measures introduced by the Australian Government. The Fair Work Commission (FWC), and the Australian Tax Office (ATO) to support businesses negatively impacted by COVID-19.  The relief packages have encouraged the retention of staff and aimed to help relieve the cash-flow strain. While all government help is welcomed with open arms, staying up-to-date on all the changes may have become overwhelming for your business and put your payroll in shambles. And making sure that your payroll system is compliant with the latest legislation can prove to be more challenging than pre-COVID-19 Days.

In a perfect world, and during non-COVID-19 times, employees are paid correctly and on time. However, during a pandemic (and 2020), the payroll function quickly breaks down. And when payroll stops, so many other essential business-essential functions stop too. As a result of changing payroll policies, and the introduction of new measures, payroll systems have quickly spiraled out of control and mistakes are occurring leaving business owners confused and trying to find solutions to their payroll problems.

Large enterprises and small businesses can function with a not-so-good payroll function. However, this doesn’t mean that they are functioning correctly, adhering to payroll requirements. What is working today – may not be correct tomorrow. And when payroll mistakes are made, they need to be quickly rectified to avoid hefty Australian Tax Office fines. When the payroll function runs well – it’s almost invisible to businesses, which brings me to my next point… An efficient payroll system.

In 2020, the importance of having an efficient payroll process and a payroll system that allows employees to access remotely is second to none. Payroll in New South Wales has many variants and exemptions. Thresholds are constantly changing, and with the introduction of Jobkeeper, payroll continues to become more complicated. Businesses relying on manual processes may encounter payroll errors and may fail audits from the Australian Taxation Office. In the last month, COVID-19 drove a 400% increase in new regulations impacting payroll globally. That is a lot of new payroll regulations to remember when manually completing your business’s payroll. Here in Australia, there has been misunderstanding around the JobKeeper Payments, Jobmaker eligibility tests, as well as staying on top of workplace entitlements.

When businesses think about payroll, they may be associating payroll with paying employee wages and overlooking the importance of what payroll data can provide for them. According to Deloitte “organisations need open, accurate payroll data to run and analyse current operating models, run scenarios and also know exactly what is going on, to look at how you allocate work, where, at what cost and with how many resources.” Connecting payroll with Human Resources and Finance can directly benefit your business by reducing system complexity and increasing efficiency. Your workplace management costs, including non-compliance fines, payment disbursement, and distribution expenses can also be reduced. In addition, when your payroll is digitalised, your business has productivity advantages and can quickly adapt to changes in the workplace. For example, in the light of COVID-19, a digitalised business can quickly adjust its payroll models and rely on an agile business climatising to changes.

Another aspect often overlooked by businesses when it comes to payroll transformation is the ability to have a real-time view of payroll data. With this kind of payroll view, anyone in your business – from HR to Finance to Sales can gain insights into the business unlocking the ability to make smarter business decisions and business projections.

Payroll planning

Has COVID-19 highlighted the importance of having an up-to-date payroll business continuity plan to aid business activities to continue through a crisis, or support the resumption of business activities once the crisis has lessened? Having an effective business continuity plan can ensure you have minimal impact on continual operations. It also means that you can determine how your business can continue to operate after (and during) a crisis. As a part of a business continuity plan, don’t forget to focus on your business payroll function and processes. Clearly mapping out your payroll processes make changes easier to deploy in times like COVID-19.

When thinking about payroll business continuity, there are seven areas to consider payroll risk and exposure.

1. Technical infrastructure

It’s time for efficient payroll software that sits in the cloud. Working with the software provider and your payroll team (or external payroll team of tax accountants) be sure to determine if the software is secure, how the systems can be accessed, how easily the software can be customised to fit your business (and how much this will additionally cost), and what kind of costing framework is in place. Is it a subscription or upfront cost?

2. Responsibilities

Whether you are performing your own payroll activities or you are working with payroll tax accountant specialists, it is important to understand who is responsible for performing payroll activities. Who will update the system with new legislation? Who will check current exemptions are up-to-date? These are just a few question’s that should be raised when mapping out payroll roles and responsibilities.

3. Office arrangements

During COVID-19, working from home has increasingly become a norm. To ensure that your business is not caught out in a lockdown, ensure that all the key payroll personnel have anywhere access to the payroll system and are equipped to work from home. In addition, ensure to have guidelines around data confidentiality when working away from the office.

4. Personnel availability

Try to have an understanding of your payroll staff and anticipate how a lack of availability can impact your business. Also, map out how overtime is calculated and works for your business.

5. Payroll paper processes

No matter how much we try to move to a paperless society, there are physical processes that still exist in the payroll value chain. When you have an understanding of these processes – you can mitigate the effect if there is limited or no physical access to the paper trail.

6. Bank payment

How are your bank payments released, who is in charge of execution, and what is the process are payment procedures? If there is only one person in charge of this process, it may be beneficial to educate a second stand-in person, in the event that one becomes ill or leaves the business at short notice.

7. Payroll data

Payroll data is so important to every business. If payroll fails, the business can collapse. Ensure that secure remote access can be guaranteed for key personnel to have access to payment files, pay register, and general ledger files.

Lessons have been learned during COVID-19. There are so many things that need to be considered to continue working at full capacity. Your payroll function is a necessity for your business. It’s not a cost center, but the source of how your business functions. Having up-to-date payroll software will not only benefit your time but also your business. Our Eastern Suburbs Payroll Services work effortlessly to understand and simplify payroll changes and adapt them to each individual business. We can help you focus on your business while you leave the boring payroll stuff to us. Our payroll service consultants can discuss the payroll digital transformation and how your business can benefit from its implementation efficiency. Our aim is to streamline your payroll function and give you the confidence that you’re adhering to all policies and thresholds.

As 2020 ends, there is no doubt that COVID-19 has fast-tracked business transformations. Many retail and hospitality businesses have adapted swiftly to an online-based business model, and even the most traditional businesses have had to adapt to working from home. We have also seen back-office operations designed for previous normal come under the spotlight. Some of these back-office operations were not seen as worthy of transformation in the past but had to adapt quickly in the face of the biggest pandemic to rock the world in the last century. One of the highest risks was in the payroll department.

The threat to morale, bad press, and the regulatory impact of not paying people on time, or even at all was suddenly a real risk that required payroll teams to keep their legacy systems operational. Some organizations had to entirely bypass their on-premises systems and panic run payroll directly through bank accounts, requiring reconciliation of discrepancies at a future date.

What this entire situation has made clear is that transformation to the organization’s payroll departments can not continue to sit on the back burner. If it does, then it becomes far too expensive and inefficient to run. For those organizations still reliant on manual processes, payroll is incredibly prone to error.

Putting the above points aside, payroll continues to get more complicated each year. In the last month, COVID-19 drove a 400% increase in new regulations impacting payroll GLOBALLY. A report released in early 2020 by ADP and The Economic Intelligence Unit showed that three-quarters of businesses surveyed found the regulatory and legislative challenges in hiring, paying, and managing employees internationally increasing in complexity. Within Australia, we have also found there to be complications around the introduction of JobKeeper Payments, Jobmaker eligibility tests, as well as staying on top of workplace entitlements as experienced by Cosmetics Company “Lush” underpaying Australian workers by $4.4 million.

With the Fair Work Ombudsman hot on Lush’s heels, they found that Lush Australia underpaid staff by $4.4 million, including interest and superannuation. Along with this, Lush Australia had failed to provide its employees with a range of entitlements that they were owed. The Ombudsman found that the contraventions were caused by Lush’s inadequate workplace relations systems and processes, including a lack of training for staff and managers, a manual payroll system, and the absence of an HR department in a rapidly growing business. Lush failed to provide its employees with a range of entitlements they were owed including minimum wage rates, rates for weekend and shift work, overtime rates, and allowances. Record-keeping laws were also breached.

In the wake of COVID-19, organizations need to adapt to challenge old ideologies about payroll and stop treating it as a tactical silo. This approach overlooks the simple, but tactical advantages that payroll renovation can bring. For example, by transforming and connecting pay with HR and finance, businesses can reduce system complexity and increase efficiency. They can also reduce workforce management costs, including non-compliance fines, pay disbursement, and distribution expenses. 

Deeply digitized organizations also enjoy real cost efficiency and productivity advantages which can be useful when navigating unchartered waters. Deloitte sums up the need for cost efficiency in their paper ‘Cost resilience amid and after COVID-19, declaring that “To be prepared to face a new crisis such as the COVID-19 pandemic, companies have to swiftly adjust their cost models relying upon a truly agile and scalable business.” 

The Deloitte report also highlights that organizations “…need open, accurate payroll data to run and analyze current operating models, run scenarios and also know exactly what is going on, to look at how you allocate work, where, at what cost and with how many resources.” 

This leads to another overlooked aspect of payroll transformation; by moving away from manual processes, businesses can get a real-time view of their payroll data. This can unlock new insights not only for finance but also for HR teams who will be able to make smarter decisions related to areas such as talent acquisition and retention.

With all these benefits, it is time to take a new look at payroll and see it not as a cost center, but as a source of competitive advantage. Look at our Payroll Services in eastern suburbs to free up your time in the workday to focus on what you do best and leave the paperwork to the experts. Through this, you will see how payroll is a key element of digital transformation and how our structured program will increase efficiencies, enhance visibility, and Agility Company wide. We want you to be ready if the Fair Work Ombudsman comes knocking on your door. Feel confident in our tax expertise and you focus on building your organization to reach new highs.