What is a finalisation event?¶

A finalisation event is how you tell the Australian Taxation Office (the ATO) that your Single Touch Payroll (STP) figures for an employee are final for the financial year. It is the last step of your end-of-year payroll.

You do not send a special file type. Finalisation is reported through an Update action — the same action you use to correct year-to-date figures — with a finalisation indicator set for each employee you are finalising.

In one line

A finalisation event uses an Update action with the finalisation indicator to tell the ATO an employee's year is final, which makes their income statement Tax ready.

Why this matters¶

During the year, an employee's income statement in myGov shows as Not tax ready after 30 June until you finalise. Once you finalise, it changes to Tax ready, which tells the employee the figures are complete and safe to use in their tax return. Finalising also means you do not have to give employees a separate payment summary or send a payment summary annual report for the amounts you reported and finalised through STP.

What you will learn¶

What a finalisation event tells the ATO
How finalisation is reported
What changes for the employee once you finalise

Understanding the concept¶

Finalisation is a declaration to the ATO that you have provided all the information for each employee for the financial year. You make that declaration by including the finalisation indicator as part of an employee's STP report.

The indicator is carried per employee, so you finalise each one. It can be included in either a Submit action or an Update action — at end of financial year this is normally done through an Update action.

Once you finalise, the ATO shows that employee's income statement as Tax ready. Because the figures were reported and finalised through STP, you are relieved of the obligation to give those employees a payment summary and to send a payment summary annual report for the same amounts.

For accountants & bookkeepers

The ATO requires the finalisation declaration by 14 July. The final event indicator cannot be provided in an Adjust action, because an adjust action contains no payee records. For a prior financial year update, the pay/update date must be 30 June of the relevant year. If a payer amends an already finalised income statement, the ATO may issue the payee an amended assessment. Some amounts (for example RFBA) may be reported as part of the finalisation process where they were not reported earlier in the year.

Example¶

At the end of the financial year, a business has reported every pay for its employees through STP. To close off the year, the bookkeeper runs the finalisation, which sends an Update action with the finalisation indicator set for each employee. Each employee's income statement in myGov then changes from Not tax ready to Tax ready. The business does not need to hand out payment summaries for those amounts.

Common mistakes¶

Thinking finalisation is a separate file type — it is an Update action with the finalisation indicator.
Assuming finalising once covers everyone automatically — the indicator is set per employee.
Still handing out payment summaries for amounts finalised through STP — STP finalisation relieves you of that for the same amounts.

How this works in myaccountant¶

In the app — you lodge STP per pay run using Submit, Update and Full File Replacement actions. At end of financial year, finalisation marks the employee's income statement Tax ready.

Key points¶

A finalisation event tells the ATO an employee's year figures are final.
It uses an Update action with the finalisation indicator.
The finalisation indicator is set per employee.
Finalising makes the employee's income statement show as Tax ready.
It removes the need to give a payment summary for those amounts.

Learn next¶

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

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