1.3 Payment Summary
1.3.1 Employee income
PS data is used to create current and annual employee income estimates.
The relevant PLIDA table is the instance of madipge-ato-d-pay-sum-fy that corresponds to the appropriate financial year period.
Key data items used in calculating employee income amounts are presented in the table below.
| Data item | Data item description | Data item purpose |
|---|---|---|
| PERD_STRT_DT | Period start date | Determines selection interval |
| PERD_END_DT | Period end date | Determines selection interval |
| INB_INCM_TYP | Income type | Establishes income amounts |
| GRS_AMT | Gross amount | Determines income received |
| RPRTBL_FBT_AMT | Reportable fringe benefits amount | Determines income received |
| RPRTBL_EMPLR_SUPER_CNTRBN_AMT | Reportable employer superannuation contributions | Determines income received |
| LSPA_AMT, LSPB_AMT, LSPD_AMT | Lump sum payment amounts | Determines income received |
| TOTL_ALWNC_AMT | Total allowances amount | Determines income received |
| EXMPT_FORGN_EMPLT_INCM_AMT | Exempt foreign employment income amount | Determines income received |
| ABN_HASH_TRUNC | Employer identifier | Distinguishes instances Checks validity |
Annual income (PS_EMP_ANN)
A person’s annual income is estimated from the aggregate of all their records of income over the financial year.
Current income (PS_EMP_CUR)
Current income estimates are calculated in a manner that helps ensure estimates are valid for the current income reference date. PS records with an end date earlier than 30 June of the previous financial year are excluded, as these payments are not regarded as current.
Additionally, the employer identifier is checked against that available in any more recent STP data. This allows us to distinguish between payments over time from the same employer, and those from another employer, which are likely not related to the current job.
The current income calculation converts amounts to weekly values. For records spanning the full financial year and records that have more than one payment summary for a single job in that year, amounts are divided by 52.143.
Other amounts not spanning the full financial year are adjusted using the number of weeks the PS record spans as a divisor. This amount is compared to the equivalent original all-employee total Average Weekly Earnings (AWE) for the same period. This comparison may indicate that an employee income value (excluding lump sums) likely relates to period longer than that indicated by PS dates. If so, the PS amount is adjusted by a more suitable divisor. The divisor selection method is summarised in the figure below.
Figure 1: Method for choosing a divisor for converting partial-year PS employee income to a weekly average value. The method uses the particular PS income obtained over the specified number of weeks (weeks) to produce an average weekly income value (emp).
\[\text{divisor}_{\text{AWE method}} = \begin{cases} 1 & \text{if } \text{emp } \leq \text{AWE} \\ 2 & \text{ if } \text{AWE} < \text{emp} \leq 2 \times \text{AWE} \\ 4 & \text{ if } 2 \times \text{AWE} < \text{emp} \leq 4 \times \text{AWE} \\ 13 & \text{ if } 4 \times \text{AWE} < \text{emp} \leq 13 \times \text{AWE} \\ 26 & \text{ if } 13 \times \text{AWE} < \text{emp} \leq 26 \times \text{AWE} \\ 39 & \text{ if } 26 \times \text{AWE} < \text{emp} \leq 39 \times \text{AWE} \\ 52.143 & \text{ if } \text{emp} > 39 \times \text{AWE} \end{cases}\]\[\text{divisor}_{\text{final}} = \max\left(\text{weeks},\ \text{divisor}_{\text{AWE method}}\right)\]For example, suppose a value of $10,000 was recorded in PS for part of the year for one particular job, and the relevant AWE is $2,000:
- If the amount recorded in PS spans a period of one week (i.e. 24 June to 30 June), the divisor selected is 13, as the PS average weekly amount is 5 times the AWE.
- If the amount spans a period of 26 weeks (i.e. 1 Jan to 30 June), the divisor selected is 26.
A separate process determines how amounts from a lump sum payment are included in current income. The amount associated with a job cannot exceed an upper cut-off set at the equivalent of 3 months’ pay, based on the greater of AWE and PS income for that job (excluding lump sums). This helps PS income measures represent amounts of a lump sum payment that are intended to support current living standards.
Amounts of current income sourced from PS that are less than $15 per week are excluded. The justification is on the basis that this value is less than most minimum hourly earnings and employment thresholds.