How do you change an STP income category for an historic pay period when you have done several pays afterward. Did not discover until doing finalisation at EOFY?

Hello info1826,

It's best to create an adhoc pay run for this to correct the previous pay run and show the correct income category. Creating an Ad hoc pay run is as simple as the same process when creating a new pay run.

To correct the income category:

1. Click on the Employees tab, then select the employee's name.
2. Click on Pay Run Defaults from the left menu.
3. Scroll to the bottom of the page and under the STP income types section, select an income type.
4. Click on Save.

Once the above is done, you can then create an adhoc pay run and lodged the pay event or updated pay event to ATO to report the correct income type.,

To create an adhoc pay run:

1. Select Employees, then select New Pay Run.
2. Select the pay period and pay date for the pay run (this is usually in line with your existing pay period and date pay run to be corrected).
3. Select Manually add employees to this pay run, then select Create.
4. Select Pay Run Actions, then select Add employees and add the employees you want to make adjustments for.
5. Within that pay run, select the incorrect earnings line and enter a minus value for the hours. Then click on the blue Actions button and select Add Earnings before entering a positive value for that line.
6. Click on Finalise pay run when ready.

Then, lodge the pay run to the ATO to report the new income type.

To learn more about how to create an adhoc pay run and STP phase 2, check this link How to create an ad hoc or off-cycle pay run and Single Touch Payroll (STP) Phase 2 Hub.

Or if you need more help on the process we'd recommend contacting our Customer Care Team. That way, one of your support can guide and have a remote session with you in a secure form.

Feel free to post in the Community if you have more questions about QuickBooks Online.

This has been incorrect since Nov 2021 - and I didn't notice there were two screens where you had to set the STP payment type so I would have to go back 6 months and do adhoc payruns for all of the payments? or do one adhoc payrun for the full amount?  There are also some employees where it is down as Labour instead of Salary and Wages.  Not sure if that effects their tax structure as far as lodging their tax.

Hello info1826, 

For easy tracking, it is best to create an Adhoc pay run for each pay date affected. With regard to the employees using Labour instead of Salary wages, are you referring to account posting or report? If so, I'd recommend checking the default payroll chart of accounts to make sure you've set up the account you want to post your payroll journals, 

Here's how:

1. Select Employees from the left-hand menu 
2. Select the Payroll Settings tab
3. Select Chart of Accounts (Located under Business Settings). 

4. Click on Default accounts.

The setup of your payroll accounts determines the journal entries that you use to record payroll expenses. 

Another area to check is the pay categories used by the employees, you can check that in your payroll settings and select Pay Categories.

If you still need help with the process, I'd recommend contacting our Customer Care Team so they can help check your payroll settings using the Smartlook session with you.

Feel free to leave a comment below if you have any other concerns. I'll be here to assist you. Have a great day!