Payroll jobs
Payroll jobs as reported to the ATO through STP are in scope of these estimates. All payroll job holders regardless of age or Australian residency status are included. Persons reported via STP must hold either a Tax File Number (TFN) or an Australian Business Number (ABN).
A payroll job is a relationship between an employee and their employing enterprise, where the employee is paid in the reference week through STP-enabled payroll or accounting software and reported to the ATO. Where an employee is paid other than weekly, the established payment pattern is used to include payroll jobs paid in weeks outside the reference week.
Payroll jobs reported via STP exclude owner managers of unincorporated enterprises.
Employers with 20 or more employees (large employers) commenced transition to STP reporting on 1 July 2018, with approximately 99% of large employers reporting through STP at the time of this release. Payroll reporting via STP is still relatively new and some employers have been granted concessions to enable a longer transition period to mandatory STP reporting.
Employers with less than 20 employees (small employers) began transitioning to STP on 1 July 2019. The ATO has made reporting concessions available for small employers where they:
- employ family members or other ‘closely held’ payees,
- are micro employers with one to four employees,
- employ intermittent or seasonal workers, or
- don’t have access to a reliable internet connection.
As such, at the beginning of September 2020 approximately 77% of small employers are reporting through STP. This figure is lower than reported previously, as the ATO has recently redefined and revised their underlying employer population from a 2017 basis to a 2020 basis. This resulted in a decrease in the proportion of small employers reporting through STP as a large number of small employers (with closely held employees) are exempt from STP reporting for this financial year.
In addition, payroll jobs reported in the Defence Industry (ANZSIC Class 7600) are excluded from these estimates by the ABS to better align with other Labour estimates.