Small Bizz Buzz: E-invoicing promotion & Single Touch Payroll expansion

From the Small Business Ombudsman encouraging E-invoicing to the ATO wanting to improve the single touch payroll scheme; here's what made small business news this week.

Push for E-invoicing

The Small Business Ombudsman has welcomed the move by the Treasury to host a public consultation on how electronic invoicing can best be managed.

The Ombudsman, Kate Carnell, believes digital invoicing makes small businesses more productive by streamlining payments and improving cash flow.

Over one billion invoices are exchanged in Australia every year.

Research shows it costs around $30.00 to process a paper of pdf invoice, whilst e-invoicing costs less than $10.00 each.

Electronic‑invoicing could save the Australian economy $28 billion over ten years, according to estimates by Deloitte Access Economics.

It’s expected that digital invoicing will help eliminate processing errors, as business details can be stored online, including direct links to bank accounts for payments.

Around 20 percent of paper invoices are currently sent to the wrong person and 30 percent contain incorrect information which delays payment.

ATO seeks help to further develop single touch payroll

The Australian Tax Office (ATO) is considering ways to help small businesses adopt single touch payroll.

The move by the ATO is an attempt to counter concerns that micro-businesses (who don’t use digital systems) may find it difficult to use the new payroll scheme.

The ATO wishes to develop a “fit-for-purpose” system that will help businesses with less than 19 employees adopt single touch payroll reporting.

The consultation comes ahead of an expected expansion of the single touch payroll regime. The reporting system will soon become mandatory for businesses with less than 19 workers.

The system has been compulsory for businesses with more than 20 workers since the beginning of July.