Payroll Tax Report (2023)

Overview

The Reports > Payroll > Payroll Tax Report 2023 summaries the Payroll Tax calculations for each state within a selected period. The data that will appear in this report is dependent on the exemption settings of your pay items, superannuation items, deductions, and contributions at the time each pay run is marked as Paid. 

Pay data not marked as ‘Payroll Tax Exempt’ is captured and stored each time a pay run is marked as Paid, and allocated to a reporting month based on the Pay Date of the pay run.

This report and the Payroll Tax Report (Historical) will only appear in portals with one or more Australian entities and the Payroll module enabled. 

Filter the Payroll Tax Report

The Payroll Tax Report can be filtered to show either an annual or monthly statement, with the default view being the current month. Pay runs are allocated in the Payroll Tax Report based on their Pay Date. 

Depending on what you select from the Report Settings > Time Period dropdown, you’ll see a second field where you can select which month or year you’d like to include in the on-screen report. Please note that the years available align with the Australian financial year (1 July - 30 June).

The Search fields allow you to use keywords to filter by employees or customers. Selecting the Customer filter for your search will include both customers and workplaces in your results. 

Interpret the Payroll Tax Report

The on-screen Payroll Tax Report includes a section that summarises your Payroll Tax data, as well as individual breakdowns of each liability, by employee, job, and state. 

The Report Summary section includes the following information:

Period	The time period that you have selected when filtering the report from Report Settings
State	The total number of states against which Payroll Tax is applicable, based on the pays processed within your selected period
Customers	The total number of customers against whom Payroll Tax is applicable, based on the pays processed within your selected period
Workplaces	The total number of workplaces against which Payroll Tax is applicable, based on the pays processed within your selected period
Employees	The total number of employees against whom Payroll Tax is applicable, based on the pays processed within your selected period
Gross Wages	The total combined gross wage amount for all states for the selected time period. This includes wages both liable for and exempt from Payroll Tax.
Deductions	The total deduction amount for all states for the selected time period. This includes both exempt and non-exempt amounts.
Super	The total superannuation amount for all states for the selected time period. This includes both exempt and non-exempt amounts.
Contributions	The total contribution amount for all states for the selected time period. This includes both exempt and non-exempt amounts.  This will only appear in the Report Summary if you have Contributions enabled in your portal.
PTAX Taxable Wages	The total Payroll Tax taxable wages for all states for the selected time period (ie all gross wages which are not exempt from Payroll Tax)
PTAX Exempt Deductions	The total Payroll Tax exempt deductions for all states within the selected time period
PTAX Taxable Super	The total Payroll Tax taxable super amounts for all states for the selected time period (ie all super amounts which are not exempt from Payroll Tax)
PTAX Taxable Contributions	The total Payroll Tax taxable contributions amounts for all states for the selected time period (ie all contributions amounts which are not exempt from Payroll Tax).  This will only appear in the Report Summary if Contributions are enabled in your portal.
Total	The Payroll Tax taxable total pay for all states. This is calculated as: PTAX Taxable Wages + PTAX Taxable Super + PTAX Taxable Contributions - PTAX Exempt Deductions.
Payroll Tax Payable	The calculated Payroll Tax amount for all states within the selected time period

 

Below the summary, you’ll see the State Totals which reports a breakdown of your Payroll Tax amounts at a state level, sorted alphabetically

This section includes:

• State
• PTAX Taxable Wages
• PTAX Exempt Deductions
• PTAX Taxable Super
• PTAX Taxable Contributions, if Contributions are enabled
• Threshold, if the Threshold checkbox is ticked in Config > Company Management > select entity > Payroll Tax Settings
• Payroll Tax Rate, reflecting the current Payroll Tax Rate set up in Config
• PTAX Tax Payable

How Payroll Tax is applied

Where the employee has worked during a calendar month will determine the payroll tax calculation, based on the Nexus Provisions. 

1. If an employee works wholly in one jurisdiction, Payroll Tax is payable to that jurisdiction
2. If an employee works across multiple jurisdictions (States/Territories), the nexus test uses the employee's principal place of residence as a starting point and can take into account other factors related to the employer's business

To determine Jurisdiction, the system will first look at the Workplace State selected on the Job. If a Workplace State is not selected, it will use the State per the employee's address.

If an employee works in one or more jurisdictions in one calendar month (1st - 31st or part thereof), the following tests are applied in order:

1. Payroll Tax is payable in the jurisdiction where the employee is based User > Personal Details > Postal Address State
2. If an employee is not based in any Australian jurisdiction during the relevant month, the payroll tax is payable in the jurisdiction where the employer is based. This is where they have their ABN address registered. Config > Company Management > Payroll > Payroll Address > State
3. If the employee is not based in any Australian jurisdiction and the employer does not have an ABN address or Place of Business in any Australian Jurisdiction, the payroll tax is payable in the jurisdiction where the wages are paid or payable in that calendar month. If wages are paid or payable in several jurisdictions, the payroll tax is paid in the jurisdiction where the largest proportion of wages is paid. If wages are paid by the employer into an employee's bank account, the wages are deemed to be paid in the jurisdiction in which the employee holds his or her bank account.
4. If both the employee and employer are not based in any Australian jurisdiction and wages are not paid in Australia. A payroll tax liability arises in the Australian jurisdiction where the services are mainly performed in that calendar month.

NOTE: Astute Payroll Tax Report will refer to points 1 and 2 above, but will not support 3 and 4 as any payroll entity outside of Australia will not have an Australian regulatory region, and therefore payroll tax will not be calculated.

Export the Payroll Tax Report

There are three exports available for the Payroll Tax Report. The ‘Export current view to PDF’ and ‘Export On-screen CSV’ options will generate a file in the applicable format that contains the information in the current on-screen view.

The ‘Export Detailed CSV’ file includes the following fields in .csv format:

• Payroll Entity Inbound Remote ID
• Payroll Entity Outbound Remote ID
• Pay Through Entity
• Payable State
• Payroll Tax Rate
• Customer Inbound Remote ID
• Customer Outbound Remote ID
• Customer ID
• Customer
• Job ID
• Job Name
• Workplace State
• Workplace ID
• Workplace Remote ID
• Workplace Name
• Branch ID*
• Branch*
• Division ID*
• Division*
• Employee ID
• MID
• Employee Remote ID
• Employee Surname
• Employee First Name
• Pay Type
• Residency State
• Permission Group
• Payroll Tax Exempt
• Gross Wages
• Deductions
• Super
• Contributions
• Total Wages
• PTAX Taxable Wages
• PTAX Exempt Deductions
• PTAX Taxable Super
• PTAX Taxable Contributions
• PTAX Total Taxable Wages (PTAX Taxable Wages + PTAX Taxable Super + PTAX Taxable Contributions - PTAX Exempt Deductions)
• PTAX Tax Payable**

The Payroll Tax Exempt column will indicate if the employee is Payroll Tax Exempt, identifying whether this is at an entity level, or on a customer, job or pay item. 

When an employee is exempt from Payroll Tax, this field will show as ‘Yes (X)’, where X is the highest level in the Payroll Tax hierarchy that the employee has been marked as exempt. For example, if the entity is not liable for Payroll Tax, the report would show ‘Yes (Entity)’ for impacted employees. 

*The terms ‘Branch’ and ‘Division’ refer to the default values when subentities are enabled in portals. If your portal has configured your subentities with different values, these will be reflected in the export.

**The .csv export reports Payroll Tax totals on a per-person basis and does not consider thresholds. There may be differences in the on-screen State Totals and any calculations that you perform using the .csv export as a result of this.