Payroll & STP

Pay your people right.
Every single time.

Payroll errors don't just cost money — they damage trust and expose you to Fair Work liability. We manage your payroll end to end, with Single Touch Payroll reporting directly to the ATO, so your team is paid correctly and you remain fully compliant.

STP2
Phase 2 compliant reporting to the ATO
Super
Guarantee calculated & remitted on time
Award
Rates interpreted & applied correctly
$0
Fair Work underpayment liability

"Underpaying staff — even accidentally — is one of the most damaging things that can happen to a business. We make sure it never does."

Key obligations

Click each obligation to understand what's involved

Payroll compliance covers far more than just processing wages. We manage every element below on your behalf.

Single Touch Payroll (STP)
Real-time reporting of wages, tax, and super directly to the ATO on every pay run.
Superannuation Guarantee
Compulsory super contributions calculated and remitted to employee funds on time.
PAYG Withholding
Tax withheld from wages and reported on each BAS, with annual payment summaries issued.

Single Touch Payroll — what it means for your business

STP Phase 2 requires employers to report wages, tax withheld, and superannuation to the ATO digitally on or before each pay day. This replaced the old annual payment summary system — the ATO now receives your payroll data in real time, every pay run. We ensure your STP reporting is compliant with Phase 2 requirements, including the expanded data fields covering income types, employment conditions, and disaggregated gross earnings. Non-compliance or late reporting can attract penalties — we make sure it never happens.

Superannuation Guarantee — the rules and the risks

Employers must contribute 12% of an employee's ordinary time earnings to their nominated super fund for the 2025–26 financial year. From 1 July 2026, super must be paid at the same time as wages under the government's Payday Super reforms — meaning every pay run will require a super payment to accompany it. We calculate super correctly on every pay run, manage remittances to employee funds, and reconcile contributions to ensure nothing is missed. We also manage the ATO's SuperStream requirements for electronic super payments.

PAYG Withholding — what employers must do

Employers are required to withhold tax from employee wages based on the ATO's withholding tables, taking into account each employee's tax file number declaration, tax offsets, and HELP debt status. This withheld amount is reported and remitted on each BAS (quarterly or monthly) and must be reconciled to each employee's income at year end through the STP finalisation process. We calculate the correct withholding for every employee, every pay run — including variations for employees with multiple jobs, part-year employment, or termination payments.

Pay frequency

We work to your pay cycle

Whether you pay weekly, fortnightly, or monthly — we manage the payroll run on your schedule.

Weekly
Fortnightly
Monthly
Weekly payroll is common in trades, construction, hospitality, and casual-heavy industries. We process your weekly run on a fixed day each week — typically Wednesday or Thursday for Friday pay days. You submit your hours or timesheets, we calculate wages, leave, and entitlements, process the run, and lodge the STP event with the ATO — all before your employees see their pay hit the bank.
What's included

Complete payroll management

From onboarding your first employee to year-end finalisation — we handle every step of the payroll cycle accurately and on time.

Payroll Processing

Weekly, fortnightly, or monthly runs processed accurately — including wages, allowances, overtime, penalty rates, and any irregular or one-off payments your team is owed.

Leave Management

Annual leave, sick leave, long service leave, and parental leave correctly accrued, tracked, and paid out in line with Fair Work Act requirements and your applicable modern award.

Termination Payments

Redundancy, resignation, and dismissal payments calculated correctly — including unused leave, employment termination payment (ETP) tax treatment, and final pay obligations under Fair Work.

Payroll Tax

Where your wages bill exceeds the state threshold, we calculate and lodge your payroll tax return on time to the relevant state revenue office — managing grouping provisions where applicable.

Year-End STP Finalisation

Annual STP finalisation submitted to the ATO by the deadline, payment summaries issued to employees for their own tax returns, and payroll data reconciled to your financial accounts.

New Employee Onboarding

TFN declarations, super fund nominations, and employment setup completed correctly from day one — so new starters are in the system and being paid right from their very first pay run.

Who it's for

Any business with employees

Whether you have one employee or one hundred, payroll compliance is non-negotiable. We scale our service to your headcount, industry, and pay cycle.

Small businesses (1–20 staff)
Retail & hospitality operators
Trades & construction
Healthcare practices
Professional services firms
Businesses onboarding their first hire
How it works

Set up once, runs smoothly every cycle

Step 01
Payroll review & setup
We review your existing payroll or set it up from scratch — employees, pay rates, awards, leave balances, and super all configured correctly from day one.
Step 02
You submit hours
Each pay period, you send us hours, leave requests, and any variations. We handle every calculation — you don't need to understand payroll to use us.
Step 03
Payroll processed
Wages paid, payslips distributed, STP event lodged with the ATO, and super contributions scheduled — all in one seamless process.
Step 04
Year-end finalisation
Annual STP finalisation submitted, payment summaries issued to employees, payroll reconciled to your financial accounts for tax time.
Common questions

Payroll & STP — answered

What is STP Phase 2 and does my business need to comply?
STP Phase 2 is the expanded version of Single Touch Payroll reporting, mandatory for all employers in Australia. It requires more detailed data to be reported to the ATO on every pay event — including income types (salary, allowances, bonuses), employment basis (full-time, part-time, casual), and disaggregated gross earnings broken down by component. If you have any employees, you need to be STP Phase 2 compliant. We ensure every client's payroll is set up and reported correctly under Phase 2 requirements.
When does super need to be paid?
Currently, employers must pay super at least quarterly — by 28 October, 28 January, 28 April, and 28 July. From 1 July 2026, Payday Super comes into effect, requiring super to be paid within 7 days of every pay run — so every time you pay your staff, a super payment must follow within a week. This is a significant change for most businesses and we are already preparing clients for the transition well ahead of the deadline.
What happens if we've been underpaying staff?
Wage theft — whether intentional or accidental — is a serious matter under Australian law. If we identify historical underpayments when reviewing your payroll, we advise on the remediation process: calculating back-pay obligations, making voluntary disclosure to Fair Work Australia, and implementing corrected payroll going forward. Voluntary self-disclosure is strongly encouraged — penalties are significantly lower for employers who come forward proactively versus those the Fair Work Ombudsman discovers. We manage this process sensitively and confidentially.
Do you handle payroll for businesses with casual employees?
Yes — casual payroll is often more complex than permanent payroll due to variable hours, casual loading, and the requirement to assess whether casuals have converted to permanent employment status under the casual conversion rules. We manage all of this: casual loading correctly applied, hours tracked per pay period, and the annual assessment of any casual employees who may have become eligible for permanent employment. We'll also keep you updated as the law evolves, including recent changes to casual conversion obligations under the Fair Work Act.

Get payroll off your plate.

We'll set it up right and keep it running smoothly.

Book a free call
Contact Us
+61 426 140 395Admin@Artiqadvisory.com.au
Office Hours: Mon-Fri, 9am - 5pm
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Based in North Sydney — Serving clients nationwide through cloud-based accounting
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