STP Adjustment allows you to amend reported STP values for previous financial years and then report the amended values to the ATO. The Adjustment will only adjust the STP values and won't affect any Transaction values or associated reports (e.g. Payroll Report). As such, the Gross Taxable value displayed in the STP Adjustment grid won't change after an adjustment has been entered.
STP Adjustment is based on STP Update and works similarly:
Filters are applied when the STP Adjustment window is opened to determine which records are loaded.
Records can only be selected for one Payroll Company at a time.
STP Adjustment can only be used to report adjustments to previous financial years. It cannot be used to report current pay period values. These must be reported via the Pay Event or STP Update.
The STP Adjustment window will change depending on the STP version you were using when you submitted the Final Event.
If STP2 was enabled, there will be a list on the left with Employee Values and the employee's Income Type.
If STP1 was enabled, there won't be a list on the left.
SPT2 Adjustment
Before you enter an STP Adjustment consider the below:
We recommend backing up your payroll database before processing the STP Adjustment.
Adjustments entered are not validated against processed transactions. You need to ensure the changes are correct before submitting to the ATO.
STP Adjustment reported values are not available in any window other than STP Adjustment and will not change Transaction, Reports or STP Update. Nor will they change the Gross Taxable value in the STP Adjustment grid as this is based on Transactions.
Whether the adjustment you are making affects multiple components or not. For example:
If a payment wasn't entered into a transaction, e.g. you paid a Bonus directly to the employee, you would adjust Bonuses and Commissions (and Tax if it was accounted for).
If a payment was entered into a transaction but allocated to the wrong Addition, e.g. was entered as a Gross payment rather than a Bonus, you would increase Bonuses and Commissions and decrease the Residual Gross (STP).
Follow the steps below to enter an STP Adjustment
Go to Payroll, Transactions, Import and Export, STP Adjustment.
Select the Payroll Company that the Employee works for. You can only select one company at a time.
Select a Location or leave it as <All>.
Enter the Employee or tick All to load all employees.
Select the Financial Year.
Click Apply.
Locate the employee in the STP Adjustment grid and double-click to open their record.
You will receive a warning that 'Edited values are not validated by MicrOpay', click OK.
The Employee Values page contains Reportable Fringe Benefits, Deductions (Workplace Giving or Union Fees) and Super Entitlements. You can update existing values or enter new values.
To add a new Deduction Item, click Add to create a row in the grid. Select the Deduction Type, either W (Workplace Giving) or F (Fees) for union fees and enter the Amount.
To remove a previously reported amount, enter 0.00.
The Income Type page contains the employee's YTD values for the reported Income Type(s), e.g. SAW. You can edit existing values or enter new ones into active fields.
Allowances, Paid Leave, Lump Sum Payments, Salary Sacrifice and Terminations have their own sections on this page.
Where they have their own section, you can Add new items or edit existing ones. For example, in the Allowances section:
Click Add to add a row.
Select the Allowance Type. If you select OD (Other Allowance), you will also need to select an Other Allowance code.
Enter the Amount.
An existing item cannot be deleted. To remove it from the employee's income statement, enter zero.
The Terminations section is disabled unless a termination transaction exists for the employee in the selected financial year. If the employee was paid an ETP, the ETP details are displayed in the grid. You can change the values associated with the ETP and select a different ETP Code. You cannot delete ETP details instead, you will need to enter zero.
You also have the option to Add New Income Type if you reported the wrong one or need to split the earnings between multiple.
You can't delete an existing Income Type, so if the wrong Income Type was reported, you will need to zero out all components on the existing one and add a new one.
If the earnings need to be split between multiple, you will need to reduce the values on the existing Income Type and include them in the New one.
When you have made the adjustments, click Save. Your changes are saved, and you are returned to the STP Adjustment grid.
In the grid, the Selection checkbox is automatically ticked for the edited employee. Ensure all employees you want to report are selected and click Update ATO.
The STP Adjustment Declaration is displayed. Confirm that the Full Name is correct, tick the Declaration checkbox and click Report.
A message confirms that the Adjustment has been sent. Click OK to close the message, which will clear the STP Adjustment grid.
Check that the Adjustment Event is successful in STP Reporting (Payroll, Transactions, Import and Export). You will need to ensure that the Payment Dates From and To include 30 June of the Financial year you processed the adjustment for. For example, if you processed a 2025 adjustment, you need to include 30 June 2025.
Important: If you close the STP Adjustment window before reporting the adjusted values, your changes will not be retained, and you will need to edit the employee(s) again before reporting.
For full instructions on STP2 Adjustments, download the guide below:
SPT1 Adjustment
Download the guide below for instructions on STP1 Adjustments.