Answer
If A Submission Hangs Or Its Result Is Unclear
While Lightning Payroll is sending, a Single Touch Payroll progress window shows the current stage, how long it has been waiting, and a Support reference. If it is taking too long you can click Stop waiting. Note that stopping the wait does not recall a submission that has already reached the ATO.
If the send does not complete you will see one of two messages:
- STP submission outcome unknown - the ATO may have received it. Check the ATO's own records before sending again, using the Single Touch Recon tool (Single Touch >> Check ATO STP Records on the Pays screen), rather than resubmitting blindly.
- STP could not be sent - the attempt did not complete. Fix the problem shown and try again.
Both messages include the stage it reached and a Support reference. Quote that reference when you contact us - it lets us find your exact submission in our logs.
Below are the most common Single Touch sending errors you might receive:
Failed to collect Authentication Token:
If you are receiving this error, check the following:
- (For desktop users) Check the credential dropdown for any other credentials for the same ABN.
- Make sure your computer's time, date and timezone are exactly correct, to the minute.
- Check that you are connected to the internet. Security software may be preventing Lightning Payroll from accessing your computer's internet connection. To test the connection on the desktop version, go into Tools >> Licence Assistant. If you see an Online Licence Install window, Lightning Payroll is connected and you may close the Licence Assistant. If instead you see a Local Licence Install window, you will need to configure, update and potentially disable your security software and try again, as it is preventing Lightning Payroll from connecting to the internet.
- Check that there are no errors displayed on the ATO machine credential server page.
- (For desktop users) Ensure your Machine Credential is not revoked or expired. When you select it from the Credential dropdown under 'Submit Single Touch', it should say VALID on the right-hand side and have a reasonable expiry date. Even if it says valid, it may still be revoked on the ATO's servers. If your credential has expired you will need to renew it; if it has been revoked you will need to make a new one.
- If you are sending with proxy enabled under Settings >> Proxy, try sending STP without proxy enabled. Many users no longer need proxy enabled if it is preventing STP from sending.
- (For desktop users) If your error log says 'LookupError: unknown encoding: idna', your program is not installed correctly. Please reboot your PC and reinstall using the free trial links on our homepage.
- (For desktop users) If your error log says '[Errno 11002] getaddrinfo failed', go to Settings >> Display/Time Settings and tick Override DNS? (Restart application for changes to take effect). After this, restart Lightning Payroll before re-attempting STP submission.
Once you have checked all of the above, try resubmitting. If you still receive the same error, please login to the ATO Relationship Authorisation Manager (RAM) and get a new machine credential.
Lightning Payroll freezes after clicking 'Submit To The ATO' (Windows desktop users):
If this issue is occurring, do the following:
- Close Lightning Payroll.
- Right-click on the Lightning Payroll desktop shortcut and select Properties.
- Click on the Compatibility tab.
- Make sure run in compatibility mode is unticked.
- Click Apply and then OK.
- Reopen Lightning Payroll and try submitting again.
DNS Caching
Sometimes DNS needs refreshing to get STP to send correctly. Please try this if your STP is failing to send from the desktop version:
- Open the Command Prompt as an administrator. Search for Command Prompt in the Windows Start menu, right-click on it, and select Run as administrator.
- In the Command Prompt window, type ipconfig /flushdns and press Enter.
- Reboot your computer.
- Resend Single Touch Payroll.
