ATO has changed the way payment summaries can be submitted

ATO has changed the way payment summaries can be submitted

With tax time coming up in a few short months it’s important to be aware of how the Australian Taxation Office has changed the way payment summaries can be submitted since last EOFY.

As of 31 December 2015, the ATO changed the process for businesses to submit their payment summary information. Although the change took place several months ago, the ATO reports that over 20,000 businesses are still submitting their summaries incorrectly. It is important that businesses both small and large understand the new changes to the system so that they can adopt the new methods for seamless document transfers.

Out with the Old…

In the past, the ATO has accepted payment summary submissions via CD, DVD, and flash drive (USB key). However, these methods present a host of security risks for your business should the data fall into the wrong hands. The ATO’s new measures and requirements help to combat this risk by providing taxpayers with a more secure method to submit their documents. In addition to the above listed hard copy formats, the ATO is also no longer accepting submissions from Word or Excel documents, PDF files, or scanned image files.

…And in with the New

In the wake of reports of financial data hacks occurring around the world, individuals and businesses alike are becoming increasingly concerned with their data security. The new measures put in place by the ATO are designed to make the process of lodging your documents easier and vastly more secure than this process was previously.

Payment summaries must now be submitted through the ATO’s online portal and must be in the EMPDUPE file format. This file can be created using your MYOB accounting software and you can find step-by-step guide to creating the EMPDUPE file using MYOB here.

For more information about the details of this new method, the ATO has provided an extensive FAQ about the process to help simplify the transition for small business owners, or for questions about how to create the EMPDUPE file using MYOB you can get in touch with our MYOB support team.