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Employers will voluntarily be able to report deductions related to child support from employee salary or wages through Single Touch Payroll if new draft legislation is passed.
The draft legislation and information from Treasury comes in response to the government’s announcement in the 2019–20 budget, with the aim of reducing the compliance burden for employers and individuals who are reporting information at present to multiple government agencies.
Treasury has conceded that the current approach of requiring employers to provide or confirm information — often manually — is inefficient for all involved.
The Single Touch Payroll legislative changes, if passed, will see employers able to report on their withholding of child support deductions from salary and wages.
It will also see them able to report on any child support garnishee amounts that are being paid to the Child Support Registrar through the withholding of salary or wages.
A further amendment would see the Child Support (Registration and Collection) Act 1998 changed to ensure that if employers do choose to report under Single Touch Payroll arrangements to the Commissioner of Taxation, they do not also have to report the amounts to the Child Support Registrar.
Employers who do not report any withheld amounts for such purposes within the Single Touch Payroll system must still report to the Child Support Registrar.
A period of public consultation has now commenced, with interested parties having until 5 February 2020 to have their say on the draft legislation.
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