Useful Info

With no boss to make you meet deadlines, you have to do it yourself. Writing goals down, perhaps on a whiteboard on the wall, can help keep you on-track and motivated.

Set a time to get up each day and stick to it. It’s easy procrastinate the day away!

Being contactable is important, but so is completing work in a timely way. It can be hard to complete work if you are constantly being interrupted. Remove distractions by turning your phone onto silent, and being ‘unavailable’ for a set period of time to enable you complete your work.

We all know that we should exercise, but it can be hard to find the time. Consider having ‘walking meetings’, or brain-storming ideas while exercising and talking into a note-taking app. Alternatively, have a think about ways you can exercise while sitting at your desk. Exercise can give you energy and motivation for the rest of the day, and studies have shown that we can be more effective and creative when our bodies are moving.

A weekly clean-up will make you feel better, and more ‘in control’ of your business. It can really make a difference with organising your workload and help you be more efficient (less time looking for that document you saw ‘just the other day!’)

It doesn’t work for everyone, but if it works for you, do it! Music can help keep your energy up, and drown out distractions.

You don’t have to follow the usual office rules, but a daily routine makes sure you get things done and can help reduce procrastination.

Most people do their best work when they are fresh. Getting the hard or unpleasant jobs out of the way first when your energy is high, will help the rest of the day flow.

Just because you can do it, doesn’t mean that you should. Know what you are good at, and focus on that. Outsourcing dull or difficult task may not cost as much as you think and can help you work more efficiently at the tasks that you do well. Benchmark Business Works can help you with your bookkeeping and many more business tasks. Contact us for a chat about how we can help you do better business!

Let other people in the home know when you are, and are not available to be disturbed. Just because you work from home, doesn’t mean that you aren’t working, and its important that members of your house understand that. A closed door can be the simplest way to communicate that, and help you avoid distractions.

Single Touch Payroll (STP) is the next step in streamlining how employers report employees’ earnings, tax and super to the Australian Tax Office (ATO).

Employers are not required to make any changes to their existing payroll process for STP, providing the software is STP ready.

For companies that employed more than 20 employees as at 1 April 2018, STP commenced 1 July 2018.

For all companies with 19 or less employees,they are obligated to report from 1 July 2019.

Employers must report their employees’ earnings, tax and super on a pay event basis. The reporting should take place on or before the employee’s pay date.

Pay date is either the payment date stipulated in the electronic transaction sent to bank, or the date the employer intends to make the payment into the employee’s bank account.

Any payroll mistakes will need to be rectified within 14 days of detection. If employees are paid on a monthly basis, off-cycles would be required to update a payroll event.

STP streamlines businesses’ end of year processes as it not only reports employee’s earnings but also pre-fills employer Business Activity Statement (BAS). Due to this payment summaries or PSAR/empdupe files are no longer required.

The way employees get paid won’t be affected by STP. Employees payment will be processed as per normal.

However, employees will no longer receive a printable payment summary. They will be able to access their yearly earnings and super information on their Income Statement in myGov. Employees don’t need to wait until the end of the financial year to see their earnings and super. Companies will be sending the data pay date by pay date. It is real time reporting.

There will be generous transition arrangements including deferrals and a quarterly reporting option for two years for micro employers reporting through an agent. Micro employers are companies employing 4 or less employees.

There will be no penalties for mistakes, missed or late reports for the first financial year.

However, if you want to get it right first time, contact Benchmark Business Works and we can help you get set up with the best solution for your business.

Benchmark Business Works prides itself on delivery the best business solutions for your unique business. We can help you choose the best software for your situation, and can even process your payroll for you.

Benchmark Business Works have been helping Australian businesses become STP compliant since the new rules have been announced. If you want help too, contact us today on (08) 9497 4110 or send us an email at: support@benchmarkbusinessworks.com.au