What payer details are reported?¶

Every Single Touch Payroll (STP) report has two levels. One is the payer — your business, the employer. The other is each payee — each employee. This lesson covers the payer level: the employer details that go in every pay report.

The payer is the business that owns the reporting duty to the ATO. All of the employee figures sit inside this payer record.

In one line

Payer details are your business's information in every STP report — how the ATO knows which employer the report is for, plus your business totals.

Why this matters¶

The payer details tell the ATO exactly which business and which payroll the report belongs to. If those identifiers are right, your figures land against the correct record. The payer totals also feed your activity statement, so they need to be correct.

What you will learn¶

The employer details reported in a pay event
What the payer totals are
How the payer identifies your business to the ATO

Understanding the concept¶

The payer part of a pay report includes:

Identification — your ABN (Australian Business Number) and branch, or a Withholder Payer Number (WPN) if you have one instead of an ABN, plus your business's legal name.
BMS ID — the Business Management Software ID. This identifies the payroll software that created the report, so the ATO can keep your year-to-date totals in one place.
Business address and contact — your registered postcode and country, plus a contact name, email and business-hours phone number for someone who can answer questions about the report.
Declaration — before the report is sent, a nominated business representative declares that the data is true and correct.
Payer totals — the total pay and tax for the period (not year-to-date):
- Gross — the total pay subject to withholding (W1 on the activity statement).
- PAYGW — the PAYG withholding, the tax you hold back (W2 on the activity statement).

For accountants & bookkeepers

Under the STP rules, the payer is the "parent" record and each payee is a "child". The ABN/WPN, branch and BMS Id are three of the five key identifiers (the other two are the payee-level Payroll Id and TFN). The payer period totals are period amounts, not YTD. For small and medium withholders these Gross and PAYGW totals pre-fill into the BAS, raising a liability; for large withholders liability is raised on payment. The submit action also carries child support garnishee and deduction period totals.

Example¶

A business runs a fortnightly pay. When it lodges the pay event, the payer part of the report carries the business's ABN and branch, its BMS ID, its contact details, and the period totals for gross pay (W1) and PAYG withholding (W2). Inside that payer record sit the individual employee records for that pay.

Common mistakes¶

Confusing payer and payee — the payer is the business; the payee is the employee.
Thinking the payer totals are year-to-date — they are the totals for the period.
Treating the BMS ID as something you type — it identifies your software and stays stable.

How this works in myaccountant¶

In the app — myaccountant builds the STP report from your pay run, so the payer details come from your business record. Your BMS ID is generated automatically and stays stable for your business — you never enter it.

Key points¶

Payer details identify your business, the employer, in every STP report.
They include your ABN and branch (or WPN) and legal name.
They include your BMS ID, contact details and a true-and-correct declaration.
The payer totals are the period Gross (W1) and PAYGW (W2).
Every employee record sits inside the payer record.

Learn next¶

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

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