Since my first commentary regarding this issue, the ATO has now taken a look into how they are obtaining their Single Touch Payroll stats. Interesting it was found that the current method used for calculating the performance of STP reporting is producing a skewed outcome resulting in the stats always being in the 'red'. As they have based their measurements on a SINGLE message and STP contains many messages, the desired results are not currently being obtained.
So where are we now?
There is no immediate answer to that question as we don't yet have a reliable baseline to work from but the ATO is currently engaged with their technical partners and is actively addressing the problem. Great to see the ATO are proactively getting to the bottom of our concerns, and dare I say, their own. The work currently being undertaken should result in giving us all some useful information about the STP message performance, so kudos to the ATO. Due to the volume of pay events now being received, some sticking points have been identified within ATO's back-end systems which are currently being addressed, resulting in quicker message responses.
Also identified is the need for more detailed guidance which is being updated regarding the appropriate use of FFR (Full File Replacement) and Update events in response to questions from Digital Service Providers (DSP) and for Employers. In summary, a lot of judicious work is being performed by the STP team and great to see we're on the right path to achieve a good outcome for everybody involved. For the technically minded you can read the currently published statistics.
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