Financial year-end compliance & payroll update

Welcome to a new financial year! With it comes some important business updates and reminders for managing your payroll, reporting, super and tax.

Single Touch Payroll (STP) Finalisation

STP finalisations are required to be completed by 14 July each year to ensure your employees can access their finalised information to complete their personal tax return. If you are reporting through STP you are no longer required to provide payment summaries to your employees or lodge a payment summary annual report. STP will automatically link these requirements to the ATO and employees will be able to access their payments summaries from the ATO.

When finalising your STP please ensure that sufficient checks are completed, the employee’s year-to-date amounts are correct and the appropriate reporting categories are reported.

Award Wages

As of 1 July 2025 the national minimum wage increased by 3.5 percent.  Minimum award wages have also increased. This increase applies from the first full pay period on or after 1 July 2025.

If you are employing staff under a modern award, we recommend reviewing current remuneration arrangements to ensure compliance with the minimum wage obligations.

The list of award wages, classifications and new minimum wages can be found via the Fair Work Ombudsman. If you require more specific advice beyond the Fair Work legislation, please contact your HR specialist.

Superannuation Guarantee Increase

As of 1 July 2025 the superannuation guarantee increased from 11.5% to 12%. While most STP compliant payroll software will automatically update this requirement based on the changes in the statutory rate, please ensure that these changes have taken effect.

Superannuation payments must be paid at least four times a year and payments are required to be paid to employee’s superannuation funds no later than 28 days after the end of each quarter.

Workcover

Businesses with greater than $200,000 in total payroll expenses are required to submit an annual reconciliation report to Workcover by 24 October 2025. There are possible discounts available if completed earlier.

Businesses with less than $200,000 in remuneration will need to submit an annual reconciliation report to Workcover by 24 March 2026.

Workcover insurance is mandatory if you employ workers in Victoria and plan to spend over $7,500 in wages/benefits or employ trainees or apprentices.

Payroll Tax

Lodgement of annual payroll tax reconciliations are due by 21 July 2025. The payroll tax threshold for the 2025 financial year is $900,000. When reviewing if your organisation falls withing the payroll tax threshold please consider all payments within the definition of wages, these can include contractor payments, fringe benefits, director payments, superannuation payments.

For a more comprehensive list please review the following guidance by the SRO “What are wages?”

On 1 July 2025, the payroll tax free threshold lifted from $900,000 to $1,000,000 for annual returns, and from $75,000 to $83,333 for monthly returns.

Please contact us if you require assistance with the above compliance requirements or would like a recommendation for a HR specialist to assist with award wages.