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Payroll Training Course Integrations: Square Payroll versus Xero?

Now that paying by card is the norm, retailers have needed to adapt to the cashless customer.  If you’ve been to some local markets recently, maybe a sporting club canteen or even your regular café, you may have noticed that you’re tapping your card on a little white square instead of an EFTPOS machine.

Block Inc. – previously known as Square Inc – is a point-of-sale (POS) system winning over retailers and enterprises across the world.  And it’s not just little white payment terminals, Square offers a range of technology and services that range from POS to payroll to inventory to marketing, AND, they recently purchased AfterPay!

Square integrates with Xero, and considering its popularity, let’s break down what Square is and how it compares to other Xero integrations like Planday.

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Xero My Payroll App Training Now Included in Xero Payroll Administration Course

If you or your employer uses Xero to manage payroll, then EzyLearn has you covered with our Xero Payroll Administration Training Course that now includes Xero My Payroll.

Xero My Payroll is a secure online portal that allows employees to submit timesheets, leave requests, view and download payslips, and manage their personal information. It’s not as powerful as some Workforce Management Apps but that is why Xero purchased Planday!

With Xero becoming such a powerful accounting program for small businesses, it’s no wonder our Xero Certificate courses are so popular.  And with Xero My Payroll now included, there’s even more reason to start your training.

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Payroll & staff underpayments affect you even if Xero, QBO or MYOB say it’s easy

Payroll Training Courses Online using Xero, MYOB & QuickBooks Online - underpayment of staff can be fixed with a payroll audit

It seems to be the season for companies admitting that they’ve underpaid their employees. Bunnings admitted to underpaying employees for 8 years, Woolworths has underpaid over 6,000 employees, Celebrity Chefs have been caught underpaying and even the City of Fremantle will shell out half a million in back pay to underpaid staff!

The scariest news article I read was in the Sydney Morning Herald where dozens of small businesses were caught underpaying staff! It was revealed by the Fair Work Ombudsman as a result of audits they performed on cheap Sydney eateries  which are EVERYWHERE! Here’s what you can do about it

Continue reading Payroll & staff underpayments affect you even if Xero, QBO or MYOB say it’s easy

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Is Single Touch Payroll Really Dead?

For a while there it looked like the ATO would introduce single touch payroll for all Australian businesses by July 2016, but after feedback from the businesses community that original plan has been shelved – for now. With SuperStream simplifying the way businesses manage the superannuation contributions for their employees, it’s highly likely that we’ll be seeing some form of the single touch payroll model in the near future.

Single touch payroll was an initiative developed to simplify the payroll process for Australian businesses. Currently, most businesses are burdened with a number of tax and superannuation reporting obligations, which single touch payroll would have put an end to.

What exactly was single touch payroll?

Single touch payroll, like SuperStream, was a proposed interactive tool that would allow a business’s accounting software to automatically report payroll information for their employees to the the tax office, eliminating the need for businesses to report pay-as-you-go withholding (PAYGW) in their activity statements throughout the year, as well as end-of-year employee payment summaries.

There was also a proposed digital service that would have streamlined tax file number declarations and Super Choice forms, which would obviously reduce a lot of the red tape and paperwork associated with employing staff.

Single touch payroll would have integrated with nearly all accounting packages in Australia, including MYOB, Xero and Quickbooks, just as SuperStream does now, so why was it shelved by the ATO until further consultation with the business community?

Single touch could have caused cash flow problems

The main concern for many businesses was that single touch payroll would impact their cash flow by requiring employers to pay the tax withheld from wages and super guarantee payments at the same time they paid their employees’ wages. There were also concerns about whether compliance by July 2016 was realistically achievable for the majority of businesses, especially when the SuperStream changeover is still ongoing.

For businesses with a substantial number of employees, single touch payroll could have been a godsend. Unfortunately, the original proposal alienated smaller businesses by making it necessary to pay both tax and super guarantee payments at the same time as employee wages, when most employers currently make those payments to the ATO each quarter.

But that doesn’t mean the single touch payroll system has been scrapped altogether. The ATO, in consultation with industry groups and the Minister for Small Business, is working on developing another single touch payroll scheme that will make real-time payments for withholding and super guarantee payments voluntary, which will be tested with small business owners before it’s rolled out across the board.

There’s still life in single touch payroll yet

What single touch payroll really highlights is how important it is for small businesses to make sure that they’re using a current accounting software package – and there are many on the market, developed especially for small businesses – that supports SuperStream and will also support any other ATO initiatives, like single touch payroll.

If you’re not using an accounting package for your small business, it’s wise to choose one of the major accounting software providers, which Margaret Carey of Business EEz also suggested when we spoke to her not so long ago about SuperStream.

You can read more about SuperStream and the new measures the ATO has introduced to make payroll and superannuation compliance easier for small businesses by subscribing to our blog. Alternatively, if you’re a small business owner using either Xero or MYOB and you’d like to know how to properly setup and use payroll in your accounting software, enrol in one of our MYOB or Xero training courses today.