Update Events
An Update Event lets you correct year-to-date (YTD) earnings data that was previously reported to the ATO, without processing a new pay run. These are for when something was submitted incorrectly and needs to be fixed.
When to use an Update Event
An employee's earnings or tax withheld were reported with the wrong amounts
An employee was included in a pay run they should not have been
Employee details changed and need to be corrected in the ATO's records
You need to correct YTD figures before submitting a finalisation at EOFY
Note: Standard Update Events can only be created for the current financial year or the previous financial year. If you need to correct data from an earlier year, you will need to use a Finalisation event instead (see below).
Create an Update Event
Go to Payroll > Single Touch Payroll > Update Event
Click + New
Choose the right Company File and Submission Date and click Create. Ensure the date you choose is in the correct financial year
Tick the checkboxes for the employees you want to include in the update event
Click Actions > Recalculate YTD Balances to ensure you're pulling the latest figures from your processed pay runs.
Review the figures and fix any errors shown
Click Submit to ATO
You must tick the employee checkboxes before clicking Recalculate YTD Balances.
What an STP Update Event does
When submitted, Tanda sends the corrected YTD figures to the ATO. This overwrites what was previously reported for those employees in that financial year. It does not create payslips or change what employees were paid.
Note: Opening balances entered in Tanda are not included in STP reporting. Only amounts from processed pay runs are sent to the ATO.
Zero-Out Events
A Zero-Out Event sets all of an employee's reported YTD earnings to $0 for a specific financial year. This effectively wipes their STP record with the ATO for that year under your organisation.
When to use a Zero-Out Event
Reasons for submitting a Zero-Out can include:
An employee was reported under the wrong ABN or entity and their data needs to be removed entirely
An employee was added to STP in error and should have no reported earnings for the year
A company file with incorrect details where every employee's income statement needs to be reset before being resubmitted correctly
Confirm with an accountant or tax professional if you are unsure whether you should submit a zero-out event.
Zero-Out Events can be submitted for up to 5 financial years back.
Create a Zero-Out Event
Go to Payroll > Single Touch Payroll > Zero Outs
Click + New
Select the Company File and Financial Year
Tick the checkboxes for the employees to zero out
Review and then click Submit Zero Out
Errors to fix before submitting
Tanda validates employee records before allowing submission. If any of the following are missing or invalid, you will see an error and will not be able to submit until they are resolved:
Missing date of birth
Missing tax declaration: the employee has not completed their tax file number declaration
Missing bank account
Invalid under-18 tax exemption: if the employee is no longer under 18, their tax exemption settings may no longer be valid
Missing cessation details: for terminated employees, both an employment end date and a payroll cessation reason must be set. One without the other will block submission.
Submission statuses
After submitting, the event will move through the following statuses:
Draft: not yet submitted
Pending: submitted to the ATO, waiting for a response
Submitted: the ATO accepted the submission for all employees
Partial: the ATO accepted some employees but rejected others. Check the submission details to see which employees were rejected and why.
Failed: the ATO rejected the submission entirely
Tanda checks for an ATO response for up to 4 days. If no response is received in that time, the submission is marked as Failed. The ATO may still have received it, so check your ATO Business Portal before resubmitting.
FAQs
The submission shows "Partial". What does that mean?
The ATO accepted the data for some employees but rejected it for others. Open the update event and check the per-employee status to see who was rejected and why. Common causes include missing or invalid details like tax file number, date of birth, or address. Fix the issue for the rejected employees and resubmit.
What about Finalisation Events?
Finalisation Events are separate to Update Events. They are used at EOFY to mark employees' income statements as "Tax Ready" so they can lodge their tax return. If you are looking for information on finalising, see the STP Finalisation article.