How Do I Zero Out or Correct an Employee's STP Year-To-Date Figures?

Lightning Payroll includes a Submit zero dollar values? option in the Single Touch wizard. When ticked, it sends a $0.00 STP event for each selected employee to the ATO, effectively resetting their year-to-date (YTD) figures on the ATO's records to zero. Use this with care ÔÇö it is intended for situations where an employee's ATO income statement needs to be cleared entirely, such as when figures were submitted in error and cannot be corrected through a standard Update or Adjust event.

When to Use the Zero Dollar Option

• An employee's YTD figures were submitted incorrectly and a standard Update Event would not fully correct them.
• You are restarting STP reporting for an employee after a data migration issue.
• ATO support has advised you to clear an employee's income statement before resubmitting.

Do not use this option routinely. After zeroing, you will need to submit a follow-up New or Update event with the correct YTD amounts to restore the employee's income statement.

In the Desktop App

1. Open the Pays screen and navigate to the relevant pay run.
2. Click Submit Payroll To ATO to open the Single Touch wizard.
3. On the Single Touch Selection page, select the employee(s) whose YTD figures need to be zeroed.
4. Tick Submit zero dollar values?.
5. A confirmation dialog titled Confirm Zeroing of YTD Values will appear, asking: Are you sure you would like to send a $0.00 STP Event for each of the selected employees to the ATO? This option should be used with caution. Click Yes to proceed.
6. Continue through the wizard to preview and submit.

In the Online (Web/Mobile) App

1. Open the Pays screen and select the relevant pay run.
2. Click Submit Payroll to ATO to open the Single Touch wizard.
3. On the Single Touch Selection step, select the employee(s) to zero.
4. Tick Submit zero dollar values?.
5. A confirmation prompt will appear asking you to confirm that a $0.00 STP event will be sent for each selected employee, and that this option should be used with caution. Confirm to proceed.
6. Continue through the wizard to the Single Touch Payroll Preview step and click Submit.

Correcting YTD Figures Without Zeroing (Desktop Only)

If you need to adjust an employee's YTD totals within Lightning Payroll rather than at the ATO level, the desktop app also provides a manual YTD adjustment wizard. Open the employee record, go to the Year To Date tab, and use the adjustment wizard to enter corrected amounts. This creates a YTD adjustment record that feeds into future STP submissions.

Related FAQs

• What Are The Differences Between a New, Adjust and Update Events?
• Why Are Single Touch Payroll Update Events Showing As $0.00 Gross And Tax?
• How Do I Process End of Year Using Single Touch Payroll?