Correcting PAYG amounts on a lodged Activity Statement¶

Sometimes a number on an Activity Statement you have already lodged turns out to be wrong. Maybe the wages and tax you withheld were reported too low, or the PAYG instalment figure was off. The good news is the ATO has a clear way to fix each of these — you do not have to leave a mistake in place.

In one line

If a PAYG figure on a lodged Activity Statement was wrong, you either fix it on a later statement or revise the original — and for wages the fix usually flows through when you correct your Single Touch Payroll reports.

Why this matters¶

The PAYG withholding figures (the wages and the tax you held back from staff) and the PAYG instalment figure are real money the ATO uses to work out your account. If they were wrong on a lodged statement, leaving them wrong means your records and the ATO's records do not match. Fixing them keeps things straight and avoids surprises later.

What you will learn¶

How to recognise when a PAYG figure on a lodged Activity Statement is wrong
The two ways to fix it — a later statement or a revision
How correcting your Single Touch Payroll reports flows the change through

Understanding the concept¶

An Activity Statement carries a few PAYG numbers. For wages, W1 is the total gross payments to staff and W2 is the tax you withheld from them. There may also be a PAYG instalment — a pre-payment towards your own income tax.

If one of these was wrong on a statement you already lodged, the ATO gives you two broad paths, and which one you use depends on the error:

Fix it on a later statement. For some withholding mistakes you can carry the correction forward and adjust the figure on your next statement, within limits the ATO sets.
Revise the original statement. For other mistakes you go back and lodge a revised version of the earlier statement with the correct figure.

For wages and withholding, there is a helpful shortcut. Your Activity Statement draws on your Single Touch Payroll (STP) reports — the wage and tax information you send the ATO each pay day. When you correct a mistake in your STP reports, that corrected information generally flows through to the withholding side of your Activity Statement. So fixing payroll at the source is often the first step.

For a PAYG instalment that was too high or too low, the ATO lets you adjust the amount when you lodge — this is called varying the instalment.

This lesson stays high-level. The exact path for each type of error is covered in the dedicated Revisions and Corrections lessons.

For accountants & bookkeepers

The ATO frames withholding corrections as either revising the earlier period's statement or carrying the correction forward into the current period, subject to limits — and it asks that a decision to carry a correction forward be recorded in writing. Corrections made through STP flow to the withholding labels; the activity-statement revision path handles cases where STP alone cannot. PAYG instalment figures are adjusted by varying at lodgment rather than by a separate revision. Time limits apply to how far back finalised information can be amended.

Example¶

Priya runs a small cafe and lodged her March quarter statement in a hurry. She later notices she under-reported the tax withheld from her two staff — the W2 figure was about $600 too low because one pay run was missed.

Because this is a wages-and-withholding error, Priya starts at the source: she corrects the missed pay run in her payroll so her STP reports are right. That corrected information flows through to the withholding side of her Activity Statement, so the ATO now sees the true amount she withheld. Priya keeps a short note of what she changed and why, so her records show the fix.

Down the road, Jordan finds a different kind of slip: his PAYG instalment was set far higher than his income this year justifies. He does not need to unpick an old statement — he simply enters a lower, more accurate instalment amount when he lodges his next statement.

Common mistakes¶

Assuming every error needs the original statement revised — many withholding fixes can be carried to a later statement, and wage fixes often flow through from STP.
Fixing the Activity Statement number by hand but forgetting to correct the payroll or STP report behind it, so the two disagree again next quarter.
Not keeping a note of what was changed and why — the ATO expects your records to show the correction.
Treating a PAYG instalment that is too high as "stuck" — you can adjust it when you lodge.

How this works in myaccountant¶

In the app — myaccountant shows the PAYG figures on your Activity Statement before you lodge, so you can check W1, W2 and any instalment against your records. If a statement was already lodged with a wrong figure, you can fix the underlying payroll and re-lodge the corrected information, so the number the ATO holds matches your books.

Key points¶

A wrong PAYG figure on a lodged statement can be fixed — you do not leave it.
Depending on the error, you either fix it on a later statement or revise the original.
For wages and withholding, the fix usually flows through when you correct your STP reports.
A PAYG instalment that was too high or too low can be adjusted when you lodge.
Keep a note of what you changed and why.
The detailed steps live in the Revisions and Corrections lessons.

Learn next¶

General information only — not tax, super or financial advice.

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