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Payroll Obligations

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Do you know your payroll obligations?  Employees must be paid the correct pay for all time worked including time spent in mandatory training, team meetings and time opening and closing the pharmacy.

The following should also be considered to ensure payroll compliance:

  • Do you have clear position descriptions and classifications according to the Pharmacy Industry award included in any employment contracts or individual flexible agreements with employees?
  • Do you know if the employee is part time, full time, permanent, temporary, fixed term or casual?
  • Confirm if the employee should be paid by your business or if they are an independent contractor or labour hire arrangement
  • Are your salary ranges for your business consistent and well defined for the business? (if above award rates)
  • Do all your employees have a legal right to work in Australia?
  • Do you keep all appropriate employment documentation?
    • Tax File Number
    • Fair Work Statement register
    • Personal details form (including in case of emergency contact)
    • Copy of drivers licence or any registrations if required
    • Police check if required
    • Copy of professional license information or qualifications
    • Completed Referee checks
    • Signed Induction documentation
    • Correct starting date is recorded (to ensure that an employee’s service is accurately reported for entitlements etc.)
  • Have you set up correct allowances, penalties and overtime according to the relevant legal instrument such as the award or NES?

Payroll Software

Choose the correct Payroll software provider which is right for your business.

There are options ranging from a standalone program on your business computer to cloud based software that integrates with your accounting system or with an option to send your payroll directly to your accountant or bookkeeper.

Employers with 20 or more employees should ensure they are registered for Single Touch Payroll (STP).

From 1 July 2018, employers will need to report their employees’ tax and super information to the ATO through payroll software that is STP ready.

You will report payments such as salaries and wages, pay as you go (PAYG) withholding and superannuation information from your payroll software each time you pay your employees.

You can also ask a third party, such as a payroll service provider or tax professional, to report on their behalf through a Single Touch payroll-enabled solution.

Note that employers with less than 20 employees will need to be ready to use Single Touch Reporting by July 2019.

For more information about Single Touch Reporting please contact the ATO

Ensure you have the latest payroll taxation tables applied to your employee’s payroll and keep up to date with the correct wage rates.

Are you sending payslips in accordance with regulations?  Do you provide access to payslips electronically?

Do you have robust filing systems? In order to keep your records for 7 years you may wish to keep secure data back-up systems.

Perform a self-audit with our workplace relations checklist found in the Employment Obligations section of the Workplace Relations webpages to ensure that you are compliant.

Page last updated on: 15 September 2022