As an employer, you have 5 main record-keeping obligations when it comes to your employees, records for:

• payments made to employees
• super contributions for employees
• super fund choice for your employees
• pay as you go (PAYG) withholding 
• fringe benefits provided.

If your employees receive tips, it’s recommended you develop and apply a written policy to deal with, at a minimum, how you:

• collect and record tips you receive from customers
• distribute tips to your staff (and how often)
• will resolve any disputes about the policy.

As an employer, you may have responsibilities under the Privacy Act to appropriately collect, store, use, disclose, secure and dispose of individuals' TFN information. 

How long to keep employee payments records

You need to keep these records for 5 years. The 5 years starts from when you prepared or obtained the records, or when you completed the transactions the records relate to, whichever is later.

You should keep records long enough to cover the period of review (also known as the amendment period) for an assessment that uses information from the record.

Single Touch Payroll records

Single Touch Payroll (STP) doesn't change your existing record-keeping obligations. There are no additional records you need to keep.