Withholding Payer Number: Client Registration

A withholding payer number (WPN) identifies a payer who must withhold tax but does not need an ABN. Confirm who employs the worker, register the correct payer for PAYG withholding and record how you will report their payroll.

When a Payer Uses a WPN

A payer can have PAYG withholding duties without running an enterprise that requires an ABN. The ATO issues a WPN for household employers who only employ people to provide domestic services. Establish the employment arrangement before choosing the registration.

Consider this fictional case. Your client directly employs a nanny to work in their private home. The nanny is an employee, and the client is not operating a business through that arrangement. The client needs the household-employer registration route and a WPN.

Compare that with a client who pays an agency that supplies and pays the nanny. The ATO’s household employee guidance says the householder does not withhold from those agency payments. Use the contract and payment arrangements to identify the employer.

A business employing staff uses its ABN for its PAYG withholding account. If the client carries on an eligible enterprise, assess ABN application requirements before preparing a non-ABN request. A missing ABN on the client’s paperwork is a reason to investigate, not proof that a WPN is appropriate.

Collect the Payer’s Details

Build the registration record around the legal payer, with the client’s authority for your practice to act. Review previous ATO letters and payroll records first. If a WPN already exists, resolve its status before applying again.

Use the current NAT 3377 form to collect the required information. Prepare the following details alongside your employment assessment:

• The payer’s legal name, street address and postal address.
• Contact details and the authorised contact’s details, including the registered agent number where applicable.
• When withholding starts, expected annual withholding and expected payee numbers.
• The work employees perform and answers to any other applicable payment-category questions.

The form asks about the applicant’s TFN and explains the alternative identity information where it is not provided. Use the payer’s information in that section. The employee’s TFN belongs in the employee record and declaration, while the issued WPN identifies the payer.

Retain the employment agreement or other evidence showing who hires and pays the worker. Check any agency agreement against the client’s explanation. Record why your practice chose the WPN route, so another staff member can understand the decision without repeating the enquiry.

Apply Through the Official Route

Register before the first payment subject to withholding. The ATO’s PAYG withholding registration guidance provides a non-ABN route by phone, form or registered tax or BAS agent.

For a documented form application, follow this sequence:

1. Download the ATO’s Application to register a PAYG withholding account, NAT 3377.
2. Complete the applicable sections from the payer record. Check the commencement information against the first relevant payment.
3. Arrange the declaration. The payer or someone already recorded by the ATO as authorised must sign and date it, declaring authority and true, correct information.
4. Retain a complete copy and lodge using a channel listed on the form. These include an attachment through Online services for agents, fax or post.

Naming your practice as a contact does not itself establish that a staff member can sign. Confirm the signing person’s recorded authority before lodgement.

Keep the lodgement reference or delivery evidence with the application. For a missing identifier, contact the ATO with that record before lodging another request. If the ATO requests missing information or a new application, follow its instructions and retain the response. An incomplete application can take longer, and issue is not instant.

Confirm Payroll Reporting

Match the issued WPN to the payer’s legal name and registration details before setting up payroll reporting. Record the withholding commencement and the activity-statement reporting and payment cycle advised by the ATO.

WPN holders have a class exemption from Single Touch Payroll (STP) reporting. The 2023 WPN exemption instrument requires the payer to have no ABN and an ATO-assigned WPN when the reporting obligation arises. The obligation must also fall within the instrument’s covered period.

Use the ATO’s STP exemption guidance and the instrument’s period when recording the decision for each reporting year. Keep evidence supporting the exemption. An old payroll note that says “WPN exempt” does not establish that a later obligation qualifies.

An STP exemption leaves the payer’s other duties in place. Continue reporting and paying PAYG withholding and applicable super guarantee liabilities. Give employees payment summaries and lodge the PAYG payment summary annual report for the non-STP reporting arrangement.

If the client chooses STP, agree who will lodge through the authorised agent arrangement and confirm the applicable ATO requirements before enabling it. Check accepted reports and year-end finalisation. Payment summaries are unnecessary for amounts reported and finalised through STP, so reconcile the reporting method before preparing annual documents.

Obtain each employee’s TFN declaration and use any later withholding declaration to update the withholding settings. Check the payer details on those records against the WPN registration.

Keep the Payer Record Correct

Review the WPN arrangement when the payer’s identity, address or employment arrangements change. A different person taking over as employer needs a fresh assessment of the payer and registration, even if the worker stays in the same home.

Update contact details when correspondence moves or your practice’s authority changes. Reassess the registration if the client starts an enterprise, obtains an ABN or moves employment to a business. If an agency takes over supplying and paying the worker, establish which obligations remain with your client before changing payroll settings.

When employment ends, complete outstanding reporting and payment work before arranging any required cancellation. Keep the final payroll records and the ATO correspondence together.

Before closing the registration task, compare the ATO registration, payroll payer settings, employee declarations and retained authority. Each must identify the same legal payer. Resolve any mismatch before the next report uses the WPN.