SMEs only have weeks to meet ATO deadlines

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Small-business owners are encouraged to get clarification from their accountant or bookkeeper to ensure they meet ATO deadlines.

Confusion with imminent compliance dates is putting SME business owners at risk of falling foul of meeting ATO deadlines, warns MYOB. The cloud accounting software provider is urging small-business owners to be aware of and comply with the ATO’s October deadlines for withholding tax tables and SuperStream.

The first deadline for SMEs to be aware of falls on 1 October. SMEs who are affected are required to update their withholding tax tables by this date. These changes will not be back dated, and any tax deducted from 1 July will be balanced out in the individual tax returns.

This is in addition to ATO regulations for SuperStream. To help make things easier for SMEs, the ATO has provided a deadline extension to 28 October 2016 for those small businesses, with 19 or fewer employees, that are not yet SuperStream ready. However, from 1 November 2016, the ATO will crack down on non-complying small employers.

“The ATO has announced big changes for SMEs. SMEs are telling us they are confused and unaware of the deadlines set against them, and we encourage them to get clarification from their accountant or book keeper,” says Mr James Scollay, General Manager of SME Solutions, MYOB.

Earlier this year, MYOB research revealed that one-third of Australian SMEs were still running a risk of potentially not complying with SuperStream regulations, and one quarter were unaware of the deadline. SMEs now have just over four weeks to meet the ATO regulations.

“It’s critical, especially in the lead up to October, that SMEs select the easiest and most efficient way to comply with the ATO regulations. One option includes using a payroll system that meets the required standards. When customers move to the latest version of any MYOB payroll product they will have the tools to be fully compliant and, in many cases, will also be able to save costs and reduce time,” Scollay said.

Inside Small Business