When will I receive my 2023 PAYG Payment Summary?
You might still call it a PAYG Payment Summary, or you might be old-school and call it a Group Certificate. Regardless of what you call it, the annual payment summary information you need to complete your 2023 tax return is called an Income Statement.
If your employer is reporting through STP they are not required to give you a payment summary.
Instead, your Income Statement and can be accessed through MyGov if you wish to view it or save a copy for your records. Your income statement will also be accessible to your tax agent if you use one.
Your 2023 Income Statement should be available to view and access in ATO online services through myGov by 14 July 2023.
If you don’t have ATO access through myGov and you use the services of a registered tax agent, they will be able to access your Income Statement. You will not need to provide your Income Statement to your tax agent.
If you do not yet have a myGov account and would like one, you can create one online here.
There will be instances where some employers will take longer than 14 days, after end of financial year, to finalise your Income Statement. It’s expected that employers will let their employees know if there are any delays in the finalisation of Income Statements.
You will need to speak with your employer if your Income Statement is not marked ‘Tax Ready’ by 14 July 2023.
Although STP is now a mandatory obligation for employers, it’s still possible that some employers won’t have moved across to STP, so you could receive a PAYG Payment Summary by post or email. If the PAYG payment summary has been submitted to the ATO, electronically, you will be able to view it via myGov and your tax agent will be able to see it as well.
My Income Statement is not ‘Tax Ready’. Can I still prepare my 2023 tax return?
As experienced tax return accountants in Melbourne, we strongly recommend that you do not prepare your tax return until all of your Income Statements show as ‘Tax Ready’.
If you choose to lodge your tax return before your Income Statements are marked as ‘Tax Ready’ you will need to carefully review your information to ensure that the data presented is accurate. However, it would be wise to contact your employer to find out why they have not yet finalised your Income Statement as tax ready.
If you lodge your tax return before all Income Statements are tax-ready, you run the following risks:
- Your employer might finalise your Income Statement with different amounts
- You may need to amend your tax return and pay back any tax refund that you received as a result of using the incorrect figures
- Using the wrong figures can impact adjusted taxable income, Medicare Levy, Services Australia payments, child support and much more.
To see if your PAYG Payment Summary (or Income Statement) is marked as ‘Tax Ready’, please check your myGov account. The ATO automatically sends a notification to your myGov inbox when all of your income statements are ‘Tax Ready’.
My employer can’t finalise my Income Statement as Tax Ready. What can I do?
If, for various reasons, your employer is unable to finalise your Income Statement and make it tax ready, they will need to provide you with a payment summary. You will need to speak with your employer directly about this matter.
My employer is no longer in business or contactable and has not provided an Income Statement. What do I do?
If you can’t access your Income Statement or PAYG payment summary due to your employer not longer being in business, the ATO requires that you estimate your income and tax withholding details and include those figures in your tax return. We recommend that you engage the services of a registered tax agent to assist you with this.
I don't have a myGov account - can I still do my 2023 tax return?
Perhaps you don't have a myGov account. Or maybe you're having trouble creating your myGov account. That’s okay.
If you engage us as your Tax Agent, we can see your Income Statement information via your ATO records (provided your employer has sent it to the ATO) and prepare your tax return.
If you have yet to receive your 2023 Income Statement, we suggest that you contact your employer to find out when you'll be receiving it, and how you will receive or access it.
Did you know that the way employers report your tax and super information to the ATO has changed?
By now, all employers should be using the new payroll reporting method called Single Touch Payroll (STP). This means you will not receive your annual payment summary information (Income Statement) from your employer if they are reporting through Single Touch Payroll (STP).
In the 2019 financial year, employers with 20 or more employees were required to report payroll data to the ATO through Single Touch Payroll (STP). Since the 2020 financial year, almost all employers have been required to use STP. It is because of STP that the ATO has renamed the annual payment summary to Income Statement.
I’m an employee and I want to know more about STP, can you help me?
Yes. The ATO has published a fact sheet about STP and how if affects you as an employee. You can access the ATO's fact sheet here.
For any other questions about accessing PAYG Payment Summaries and Income Statements, or to book your 2023 tax return appointment, please contact our office on (03) 9746 6479.
