The Australian Tax Office (ATO) deems that all salary and wages are taxable in the year in which the payment is made. This is irrespective of when the work was or will be performed.
For more information see the ATO's PAYG withholding payment summaries.
MicrOpay and Payment Dates
The critical point is when the wages are received by the employee in their bank account and not what the Period End Date is in MicrOpay. When it comes to the ATO and STP Reporting, the last payment in the financial year should be 30 June or earlier and the first pay in the new financial year must be 1 July or later.
With STP2, the Payment Date is determined by the Advice Date used when producing Pay Advices. You can see the dates in the Payment Date column in STP Reporting. The ATO uses this Payment Date to determine which financial year the values relate to.
If the employee receives the payment in the current financial year, then it must be included in the STP Reporting Final Update for this financial year.
Scenario 1: If the Period End (PE) Date is 30 June 2026 AND the money received on 30 June or earlier, then the pay falls within the 2025-2026 financial year and the Pay Advice (Payment Date) should reflect this.
Scenario 2: If the Period End Date is 30 June 2026 BUT the money received on 1 July or later, then the pay falls within the 2026-2027 financial year and you must move to the 2026-2027 finanical year before you enter the July pays. To do this:
complete your year-end process first.
process Change Tax Year to close the 2025-2026 financial year and open the 2026-2027.
change the Period End Date to 1 July 2026 or later and continue.
Check if this results in a 53 week or 27 fortnight financial year. For more information see, Withholding PAYD for 27 fortnightly or 53 weekly pays in a year.
Note: If your first Payment Date in the financial year is earlier than 1 July on the STP reporting screen when you report STP to the ATO, the data from the previous financial year's STP Update will be overridden in the employee's MyGov and replaced with the first pay of the new financial year.
Period End Dates and the Financial Year
The Period End (PE) Date can be changed at any point up until the End of Pay Process. Once the End of Pay has been completed, the Period End Date is locked in.
We strongly recommend changing the Period End Date so that it is in the Financial year in which the period is being paid, e.g. between 1 July and 30 June. For example:
If the Period End Date is 28 June 2026 and the Payment Date is 1 July 2026, then change the Period End Date to 1 July 2026 or later.
Or, conversely, if the Period End Date is 2 July 2026 and the Payment Date is 29 June 2026, then change the Period End Date to 30 June 2026 or earlier.
We recommend this because:
The Period End Date is used to Apply SGL parameters (e.g. Contribution Cap) for superannuation. The software uses pay period end dates to determine which month or quarter the super falls into.
Many reports use period end dates to capture data. The values captured in the reports can be incorrect when period end dates are not dated in the Financial Year in which they are processed.
It is easier, historically, to recognise which Financial Year a pay falls into.
Considerations
There are some things to consider when you change the Period End Date:
If you import timesheet transactions from a time and attendance system, ensure that the Period End Date is the same before you import the file. You can modify the date in the file if necessary.
If you use Leave Processing to import leave from a Third-Party system, Leave Processing uses the Period End Date as the date to import leave up to. You can change the Period End Date after you have completed Leave Processing to import the correct leave.
If you change the Period End Date, after creating transactions, check that the Superannuation calculated is correct, taking into account SGL parameters, especially for any high earners.
When you update leave in Update Leave Entitlements and End of Pay you change the date the leave is updated to reflect the correct end date. The date entered into Leave Entitlement Date is the date leave based on contract hours will accrue to. Leave based on hours worked will use the Period End Date as the Prorata date but accrues based on the number of hours included in the transaction.
On Pay Advice, use the Display Options tab to change the start and end dates to reflect the actual start and end dates of the period.
When the end of pay is completed, change the End of Next Pay to the actual next period end date.