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This is important information you must know to prepare for reporting child support deductions through STP for the first time.
What your STP solution can do
Not all STP reporting solutions offer child support reporting. Your STP provider will be able to tell you if this is an option for you.
Ask if there are any limits to what your STP reporting solution can do. You may need to use other reporting options in some situations.
For example, find out if you can report that you made a $0 deduction when you didn’t pay your employee in the pay period. If your STP reporting solution won’t let you report that you didn’t make a deduction, you’ll need to use another reporting option.
How to report when you can’t use STP
You can use any of our other Child Support reporting options when you can’t report through STP. This includes when STP isn’t available because of system maintenance.
How to set up your STP solution correctly
Make sure the pay cycle information in your STP reporting solution, the child support deduction notice and our systems are the same.
What you can report through STP
You can only report child support amounts through STP that we ask you to deduct from your employee or contractor’s pay. We do this through either of the following:
You can’t report amounts through STP that we haven’t asked you for. For example, if your employee or contractor asks you to deduct extra child support amounts. We call these employee-initiated amounts.
Confirm payment details
Check the payment reference numbers you must use when reporting through STP. These might be different to what you have used in the past.
Read more about payment options for child support deductions for more information.
How to send us your year-to-date child support balances
We work out your child support pay period amount by comparing the current pay period’s year-to-date (YTD) balance to the last period’s YTD balance.
This means we need to know your YTD balance before you report child support deductions through STP for the first time. You’ll only have to tell us once.
In the first pay period of the financial year, your YTD balance is always $0. You don’t need to do anything if you report in this pay period.
If you report through STP for the first time at any other time of year, you need to let us know through either of the following methods.
Method 1 - Update event
Send an Update event in your STP reporting solution before you run the first pay that will include child support deductions. The Update event must include YTD child support balances for all employees that have child support deduction or garnishee amounts.
You only need to do this once.
Method 2 - Overlapped reporting
Send your STP report as normal through your STP reporting solution for the first pay where you are reporting child support deduction amounts. We’ll use whatever YTD amounts are in your STP report as your starting YTD balances.
Use one of our other Child Support reporting options to tell us your child support deductions from the start of the calendar month up to and including the pay period you’ve sent the STP report for.
We’ll compare the 2 reports you sent us to determine your YTD balances. You only need to do this once.
How to report correctly after the first time
There are steps you need to take each time you report child support deductions. Make sure you understand what, where and how to report. Read more about reporting child support using Single Touch Payroll.
You can learn about reporting other employment and taxation information through the Australian Taxation Office’s Single Touch Payroll Phase 2 employer reporting guidelines.