“our advice is to prepare your payroll systems
early for the change. use the 2018 financial year
to review internal processes and implement
whatever changes are required to be fully
compliant come 1 July 2018.”Jason daniels | Partner - Business services | BDolike Centrelink, instead of continuing to do it
a year after the fact.
Superannuation payments will also be affected
by the new STPR system. For the first time,
the ATO is going to be able to match an
employee’s payment to a superannuation fund
to an actual real-time payslip, rather than
waiting for an annual report from an employer
with no guarantee the money has actually
made it to the individual superannuation
account.start early and be prepared
While the mandatory start date is 1 July
2018, there is an option to join voluntarily
from 1 July 2017. Our advice is to prepareyour payroll systems early for the change.
Use the 2018 financial year to review internal
processes and implement whatever changes
are required to be fully compliant come 1
July 2018. An important piece of the internal
review process will be to ensure your current
software provider has the capability to
transmit the required data each pay cycle.Why is it so important for the
franchise market?
There have been statements made by both
the Fair Work Ombudsman and Office of
State Revenue revealing that, in the wake of
the 7-Eleven case, authorities are particularly
keen to review the franchisor’s systems and
processes to determine whether these controls
are adequate when it comes to ensuring
franchisees are compliant.
Frequently, they’re finding there aren’t
adequate controls in place in the payroll and
HR areas of a business. When regulators don’t
find these controls in place this is a red flag for
both the franchisor and franchisee. With the
Office of State Revenue in particular, if they
find problems in one or two of the individual
franchisees, it is likely the will audit the whole
network, which is an incredibly expensive
process to go through.human resources controls will
make the difference
In our experience, there are two different ways
franchisors approach their HR oversight and
ensure the people their franchisees employ
are treated fairly and paid correctly. On one
side, there are franchisors who like to be really
involved in these processes and how they’re
rolled out across their network. On the other,
there are those that take a more hands-off
approach and trust that their franchisees are
doing everything correctly.
Our concern for the franchisors that are
currently taking this hands-off approach
is what they may be exposing themselves
to. Because of this real-time information
reporting, the ATO are going be very well-
informed before they investigate a business.It’s a fact that should really spur the
franchising industry into action. While there
are a number of positives with franchising
arrangements, such as that their processes
are systemised across individual entities,
these same systems can allow bad habits to
replicate within them. This opportunity for
stricter compliance that’s on the horizon
should encourage franchises to start getting
everything in order now so they’re prepared
for the enforced changes.What are the next steps?
Our advice is to review your current internal
processes early to ensure you are ready come
1 July 2018. Consultation with your software
provider will play an important part of the
review to confirm they have the capability
to interface with the ATO’s systems. Equally
important will be the consultation with your
accountant and business advisors to ensure
your current business practices are compliant
with the various federal and state taxes that
will be under the spot light like never before.
It is anticipated that the ATO will start
reviewing real time data from 1 July 2018,
so those businesses that have planned early
will be well placed to avoid any unwanted
attention from the ATO.Jason daniels is a partner of Business
Services at BdO in Brisbane. He is a
qualified accountant, financial manager
and business leader with more than 20
years’ experience. His expertise lies in all
areas of financial management, especially
mergers and acquisitions, business
planning, forecasting, restructures,
systems as well as process and operational
improvement and software development.
He holds a Bachelor of Commerce degree,
is a Member of Chartered Accountants
Australia and New Zealand.
Contact Jason via:
+61 7 3237 5823
[email protected]
http://www.bdo.com.au
@BdOAustraliaa new
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