Withholding Payer Number Holders

Withholding Payer Numbers (WPN) are special identifiers issued by the Australian Tax Office (ATO) to employers who are not entitled to an Australian Business Number (ABN) due to them not acting as a commercial business, for example, participants employing carers on a casual basis. This allows them to withhold tax, pay superannuation and report correctly for their employees without having an ABN.

Previously, WPN holders have been exempt from Single Touch Payroll, as the system was not originally built to accommodate WPN holders and report on their income, tax and superannuation. WPN holders have instead been asked to report manually using the old methods of reporting with the ATO, such as quarterly activity statements and submitting payment summaries for their employees at the end of the financial year.

#Changes from 1st July 2023

From the 1st July 2023, with the introduction of Single Touch Payroll Phase Two, WPN holders will now be required to report through Single Touch Payroll, as the system now accommodates for WPN holders. This brings them in line with the same requirements as entities with ABNs. This means that your manager and employee information must also be up-to-date with the requirements of reporting through Single Touch Payroll.

If you are a WPN holder, please review the Manager Checklist and Employee Checklist to ensure that all fields are up-to-date.

#Activity statements

WPN holders will still need to submit activity statements to the Australian Tax Office - this will not change. However, some information for the activity statements will now be pre-filled by the information that is reported through Single Touch Payroll, much the same as how employee tax returns are pre-filled with this data. It will still be the responsibility of the employer to check that the pre-filled information is correct and amend it if necessary, and the employer must still submit the activity statements by the due dates.

#Paying tax and super

WPN holders will still need to pay the withheld tax and accrued superannuation to the necessary entities - this too will not change.

#Payment summaries

WPN holders will no longer need to generate and submit payment summaries for employees, as this will now be reported and generated through Single Touch Payroll. When you finalise a payment summary in Self Manager, this will update the Australian Tax Office to let them know that the financial year has been finalised for that employee, meaning that the accrued income and tax for that employee will appear as "Tax Ready" on their income tax return.