You must file employment information every time you pay your employees. This is based on the date you pay employees (payday) and may be weekly, fortnightly, monthly or more often if you have multiple paydays. You only need to file employment information for an employee when you pay them.
Information to include
When you file employment information, you must include the payday and pay period your employee worked. The pay period start and end dates can be different for each employee.
You'll find an example at the end of this page.
How to file
You can add employment information in myIR by entering the information into an online form or uploading a payroll file. You can also file directly using your payroll software.
Note: If an employee does not appear in myIR when you file their employment information, you’ll need to add them as a new employee.
When to file
If you file electronically
You need to file employment information within 2 working days of each payday.
If you file by paper
You can file within 10 working days of each payday or:
| Payday date | Filing date |
|---|---|
|
Between the 1st and 15th of the month |
Within 10 working days of the 15th of the month |
|
Between the 16th and end of the month |
Within 10 working days of the end of the month |
New employers can file electronically or by paper in the first 6 months. After 6 months, you must file electronically if your total annual PAYE and ESCT (employer superannuation contribution tax) is $50,000 or more.
When you are not paying wages for a month or more
You need to let us know if you:
- are not paying wages for a month or more
- employ staff irregularly during the year
- are going to stop employing staff for a month or more.
From time to time, we may check with you that you have filed employer information for the right number of employees for a month.
Non-standard filing
Filing employment information works differently for:
- IR56 taxpayers
- lump sum payments
- out of cycle payments
- holiday pay paid in advance
- employee share scheme benefits
- schedular payments
- non-resident employers.
Filing employment information on time is important
We know that filing employment information each payday may be challenging. Filing employment information on time is important, even if you cannot pay the deductions. This ensures that:
- employee information is up-to-date and accurate
- your employees have the right deductions made from their pay and are paid what they’re entitled to.
If you have not filed employment information on time, you may be charged penalties and/or interest. If you have overdue employment information, you can file this in your usual way.
Example: Employment information
All Employer A’s employees are paid on 15 August. Some employees are paid fortnightly. These employees worked from 1 August to 14 August and were paid on 15 August.
Other employees are paid weekly. They worked from 8 August to 14 August and were also paid on 15 August.
All Employer A’s employees are included in employment information for 15 August. This is because they were all paid on the same payday.