Your staff

Any business larger than a one-person operation will have staff; anywhere from one person to scores or even hundreds or more. And with employees comes obligations (and rights), ranging from your having to put aside PAYG withholding tax from payroll, compulsory superannuation contributions, perhaps fringe benefits, and much more.

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• Pay-as-you-go withholding tax is where the boss holds out a portion from each staff's regular paypacket to be put towards their final tax bill. Find out how it works by reading How much PAYG to withhold from salaries.
• Every employee will expect some super payments from you (it's guaranteed by the government) and you can find out how much you will need to put in by reading Superannuation: How much do you have to pay? One common option to boost super is for staff to opt into a salary sacrifice arrangement. If employees ask about this, see Can salary sacrifice work for your staff? for details.
• Providing benefits instead of cash as part of an employee's remuneration can be beneficial for both of you under the right circumstances, but there is still a tax to be taken care of. See all about fringe benefits tax by reading Fringe benefits tax and your business. And at Christmas time, there are helpful hints regarding FBT in the article Christmas: More party, less humbug.
• Payroll tax is a state and territory based impost, but still has to be dealth with by businesses that pass a certain wages threshold. Find out what you need to know with Payroll tax: What is it, and how does it work?
• Which of your staff are employees, and which are contractors? The result could save, or generate, more paperwork and headaches by not getting it right. See Employee or contractor: It makes a difference. Then again, if a worker would rather be employed as a contractor, then see So you want to be a contractor... for details on how to make that work.

Just in case you're selling a business, here is an article from our regular journal The Taxpayer: Tax implications of transferring employee entitlements

And finally, just in case one of your employees asks, find out all about the paid parental leave scheme.

Here is a Tax Office video about employing people.