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administrative workload and enhance the accuracy of their reporting, creating a more streamlined and transparent payroll process. “Parental leave policies impact payroll reporting because they require accurate tracking of employee benefits, tax obligations, and government submissions.” Global SBR Success Stories There are positive examples. The Netherlands pioneered SBR for Financial and Tax Reporting as early as 2004. Their SBR initiative covers multiple areas, including tax returns, financial statements, and employee data submissions for pension and social security purposes. Payroll data can be directly submitted from companies’ payroll systems to the Dutch Tax Authority. This has reduced the reporting time by approximately 30%, as businesses no longer need to complete repetitive tasks for each regulatory agency. In 2010, Australia’s SBR initiative was launched, focusing on small and medium businesses’ tax and superannuation (retirement) contributions reporting. In 2018, Australia introduced Single Touch Payroll, an SBR-based system that
allows businesses to automatically report employee salaries, taxes, and retirement contributions to the Australian Tax Office (ATO) at the time of payroll processing. STP has reduced administrative time for businesses, especially SMEs, by removing manual reporting tasks. With SBR-enabled software, businesses can lodge their Business Activity Statements directly through their accounting software, significantly reducing the submission process time. The automated and real-time nature of SBR has helped reduce errors in tax reporting, increasing compliance rates among businesses. Encouraging things are happening Down Under, New Zealand also implemented SBR in partnership with the Australian government, focusing on tax and Goods and Services Tax (GST) reporting. The initiative, known as the Business Connect Platform, helps streamline reporting processes for businesses. The UK’s Making Tax Digital (MTD) program, while not branded as SBR, aligns closely with SBR principles. MTD was launched in 2019 to digitize tax reporting for VAT, income tax, and corporation tax, with future expansion plans. MTD supports real-time data submissions for income tax, which improves compliance and allows businesses to better plan for tax obligations. Sweden’s AGI and Parental Leave In 2018 Sweden introduced employer declaration (AGI, arbetsgivardeklaration på individnivå), a digital payroll
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