Allowance Type
This field identifies the type of allowance that this allowance represents. This field is available only and is mandatory if the allowance pay code is assigned to the country of Australia and the Itemise in STP Reports option is ticked (for more information, see below), in which case this field determines the allowance type code against which payments of this allowance will be itemised in Single Touch Payroll (STP) reporting for Individual Non Business payees. The options that are available in this field and the STP allowance type code to which each option corresponds are as follows:
Tax Type
Determines how payments made against this pay code are taxed. The option available are as follows:
Taxable – indicates that amounts paid against this pay code are taxable.
Non-taxable – indicates that amounts paid against this pay code are non-taxable.
Amount Threshold – indicates that amounts paid against this pay code that exceed a threshold amount are taxable (applies to Australia only)
Quantity Threshold – indicates that quantities paid against this pay code that exceed a threshold amount are taxable (applies to Australia only).
If the Amount Threshold or Quantity Threshold options are selected, threshold validity dates and threshold values must be defined. For more information, see Defining Allowance Thresholds below.
Description
Textual description that identifies the purpose of the allowance. This field is optional unless the allowance is assigned to the country of Australia and the Other option is selected in the Allowance Type field (for more information, see above), in which case it is mandatory to key the text in this field.
If the Allowance Type field is set to Other, the text keyed in the Description field will be written to Single Touch Payroll (STP) reports for Individual Non Business payees. To help the ATO identify the purpose of the allowance, the description should be as per the bolded text below depending on the payment type to which the allowance corresponds:
overseas accommodation allowance for business purposes - G1 (general)
overseas accommodation allowance for private purposes - ND (non-deductible)
flat rate car allowance - V1 (private vehicle)
cents per km allowance for private travel - ND (non-deductible)
cents per km allowance for vehicles other than a car - V1 (private vehicle)
home office equipment allowance - H1 (home office)
internet allowance - H1 (home office)
laundry allowance for deductible conventional clothing - G1 (general)
laundry allowance for uniforms for private purposes - ND (non-deductible)
transport allowance for private purposes - ND (non-deductible)
transport allowance for business related travel not traceable to a historical award in force on 29 October 1986 - T1 (fares)
travel allowance for private purposes - ND (non-deductible)
part day travel allowance - ND (non-deductible)
Display on Payslip
If ticked, the allowance will be itemised on a payee's payslip whenever the payee has been paid against this pay code during the period to which the payslip corresponds.
GST Exempt
If ticked, no goods and services tax (GST) is payable to payees on top of any payments that are paid against this pay code. If un-ticked, GST is payable on top of payments that are paid against this pay code. GST will only be payable to payees with a tax type of Company (AU only) or Contractor (NZ only).
(STP Reporting) Itemise in STP Reports
This field is only available for allowances assigned to the country of Australia and when ticked it indicates that the year-to-date value of payments made against this pay code will be itemised against the corresponding allowance type code, as determined by the Allowance Type field, in Single Touch Payroll (STP) reports for Individual Non Business payees.
As a general rule, all taxable allowances are required to be itemised by allowance type in STP reporting and therefore, where applicable, this field is ticked by default if the Taxable, Quantity Threshold or Amount Threshold options are selected in the Tax Type field (for more information, see above).
(STP Reporting) Itemise Below Threshold
This field is only available for allowances assigned to the country of Australia and have a tax type of Quantity Threshold or Amount Threshold. When ticked it indicates that the year-to-date value of payments made against this pay code will be itemised against the corresponding allowance type code, as determined by the Allowance Type field, in Single Touch Payroll (STP) reports for Individual Non Business payees irrespective of whether the year-to-date taxable threshold has been reached.
This field is only available if the Itemise in STP Reports field is ticked.
(STP Reporting) Include in Gross Earnings in STP Reports
This field is only available for allowances assigned to the country of Australia and only if the Itemise in STP Reports field is unticked. When ticked, payments made against this pay code will be included in the year-to-date gross earnings amount in Single Touch Payroll (STP) reports for Individual Non Business payees instead of being itemised against the corresponding allowance type code.
As a general rule, all taxable allowances (and some non-taxable allowances) are required to be itemised by allowance type in STP reporting. This field is provided for upgrade/backward compatibility with pre-STP Phase 2 reporting requirements only and it is generally not recommended that this field should be ticked.
Start Date Filter
Allows you to find a specific allowance threshold validity period according to the start date of the validity period. If there is an existing allowance threshold validity period that begins on the date you specify in this field, that allowance threshold validity period will be listed in the Threshold table (for more information, see below).
This field is available only if the Amount Threshold or Quantity Threshold option is selected in the Tax Type field. For more information about threshold-based allowances, see Defining Allowance Thresholds below.
End Date Filter
Allows you to filter existing threshold validity periods according to the end date of the validity period. If there is an existing allowance threshold validity period that ends on the date you specify in this field, that allowance threshold validity period will be listed in the Thresh old table (for more information, see below).
This field is available only if the Amount Threshold or Quantity Threshold option is selected in the Tax Type field. For more information about threshold-based allowances, see Defining Allowance Thresholds below.
Threshold
Displays an existing allowance threshold validity period, where one exists for the validity start and end dates, as selected in the Start Date Filter and End Date Filter fields respectively and allows new threshold validity periods to be added.
This field is available only if the Amount Threshold or Quantity Threshold option is selected in the Tax Type field. For more information about threshold-based allowances, see Defining Allowance Thresholds below.