Understand how office codes (paying entities) are set up to pay employees and their role in your reporting.
Office codes, also known as paying entities, store key payroll and business details, including the ABN and branch code.
Each employee is assigned to one office code, which determines the ABN under which their earnings and superannuation are reported to the ATO via Single Touch Payroll (STP), the bank account used to process their pay, and the business details that appear on their payslip.
Every foundU platform must have at least one office code configured. Multiple office codes can also be created to support more complex business structures, including:
- Multiple businesses operating under the same ABN
- Different legal entities or companies
- Different logos, reporting, or payment requirements across business areas
Please note: ABA payment details are managed separately but connect to your office code configuration. For more information, see our guide here.
In this article, we will cover:
- Adding a new office code (non-paying entity)
- Adding a new office code (paying entity)
- Editing existing office codes
- How to set up ABA settings for your office codes
- Assigning office codes to your operations
- Assigning office codes to your employees
- Changing an employee's office code
If you're looking for cost codes (typically used for departments and P&L reporting), please check out our guide here.
Creating office codes
When creating office codes, it’s important to decide how your payroll and reporting structure should be set up from the start. Some platforms will require only a single office code under a single ABN, while others may require multiple office codes to reflect different business areas, reporting requirements, or operational separation.
There are 2 types of office codes for paying entities:
- Default office code – Included with every platform and always set up as a paying entity.
- Additional office codes – Extra paying entities created to suit your business and payroll structure.
Warning: The Default office code must have its details completed, even if it is not actively used on your platform, as it serves as a fallback to ensure all payroll and reporting requirements are met.
Additional office codes can be created for a range of operational and reporting needs, including:
- You operate multiple businesses with different ABNs.
- You do not want to use the Default office code, as its name cannot be customised.
- You want to pay different groups of employees from the same ABN, but from different bank accounts.
- You want to apply admin search restrictions or separate reporting between areas of the business.
- You operate multiple business areas under the same ABN, but require different business names or payslip logos.
Please note: Office codes cannot be deleted for auditing and reporting purposes. If an office code is no longer required, we recommend updating the title to include “(DO NOT USE)” and removing it from all employees and operations.
To add a new office code:
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Navigate to the main menu > Payroll Settings > Office Codes, then select Add Code.
- Enter the following information:
- Label - The name of the office code. Default office codes cannot have their name changed.
- Address - The address of the business.
- Contact Name - The point of contact for this business.
- Contact Number - The contact number for the point of contact.
- Default Super Fund - The super fund used for employees who choose to sign up with the default fund during their onboarding.
- Reply to Email - The reply-to email address used when emailing payslips to employees.
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WHM Employer Registration Status - If your business is registered to employ Working Holiday Makers, enable this toggle.
- When enabled - Employees who declare WHM status on their TFN declaration will be taxed at 15% on income up to $45,000. After this threshold is reached, the platform will automatically apply the relevant progressive tax rates for Working Holiday Makers.
- When disabled - WHM employees will be taxed at 32.5%.
- Select the 'Paying Entity' checkbox.
- Enter the Tax Declaration details:
- PDF Logo - The logo displayed on the employee's payslip. Please use a 300 x 100 image.
- ABN - The ABN of the paying entity. This information is displayed on the employee payslip and sent to the ATO through STP.
- SSID - Software Subscription ID (SSID). An automatically generated SSID that is unique to each ABN on your platform and must be registered to your ATO Access Manager portal for each ABN that you pay through.
- ACN - the ACN of the paying entity.
- Branch - When lodging reports, your SBR-enabled business software may require a branch number. This is located next to your account description in Online Services for Business or ATO Online.
- Website - Company website.
- Company Name - Displayed in the header of employee payslips. This information is also sent to the ATO through STP.
- Company Number - Displayed in the header of employee payslips.
-
Email - Displayed in the header of employee payslips.
Please note: If you do not register your SSID in your ATO Access Manager portal, all STP submissions will fail and an error will be returned until the SSID is registered with the ATO.
- Enter Invoice Payment details:
The following fields only need to be filled out if you use invoicing through foundU. All of the information below will be displayed on your invoices.- Mail Address (Cheque) - Your address that clients can send cheques to.
- Account Name - Your bank account name.
- BSB - Your bank account BSB.
- Account Number - Your bank account number.
- Account Email - Email provided on the invoice for clients to send remittances to.
- Additional Information on Invoice - Any additional information you'd like displayed on invoices. This information will be positioned at the bottom of the invoice.
- Enter additional Payslip Information:
- Additional Information Title on Payslip - Title for additional information that can be displayed at the end of employee payslips.
- Additional Information on Payslip - Any additional information you'd like displayed on employee payslips. This information will be positioned at the bottom of the payslip.
- Select Save.
The new office code can now be applied to employees and operations as required. Please refer to the appropriate section below for more information.
A non-paying office code is an office code that does not have its own ABN or ABA payment details attached. Instead, employees assigned to a non-paying office code will be paid and reported (including STP and QE) using the ABN and financial details set in the Default office code.
Non-paying office codes can be useful when you want to separate larger areas of your platform without creating an additional paying entity.
Ways non-paying office codes can benefit your platform include:
- Separating business areas under the same ABN into different office codes for reporting purposes.
- Segregating groups such as upper management for admin search restrictions.
- Creating additional filtering options for payroll processing.
To add a new Office Code:
- Navigate to the main menu > Payroll Settings > Office Codes, then select Add Code.
- Enter the following information:
- Label - The name of the office code.
- Address - The address of the business.
- Contact Name - The point of contact for this business.
- Contact Number - The contact number for the point of contact.
- Default Super Fund - The super fund that is used for employees who choose to sign up with the default fund during their onboarding.
- Reply to Email - The reply-to email address used when emailing payslips to employees.
-
WHM Employer Registration Status - If your business is registered to employ Working Holiday Makers, enable this toggle.
- When enabled - Employees who declare WHM status on their TFN declaration will be taxed at 15% on income up to $45,000. After this threshold is reached, the platform will automatically apply the relevant progressive tax rates for Working Holiday Makers.
- When disabled - WHM employees will be taxed at 32.5%.
- To finalise your changes, select Save.
The new office code can now be applied to employees and operations as required. Please refer to the appropriate section below for more information.
In most cases, you won't need to create a new office code, as edits are sufficient for most updates you may need to make. A new office code is required only for major structural changes, such as adding a new ABN, a business acquisition, or a change to a non-editable field.
Fields that cannot be edited include:
- ABN / ACN
- Branch number
- SSID
Office codes (both paying and non-paying) can be edited for all other updates, including:
- Updating payroll contact and company details
- Changing the logo for new branding or other payslip comments
- Business address changes
- Providing a new account for invoicing details
To edit an office code:
- Navigate to the main menu > Payroll Settings > Office Codes, then select the edit icon to the right of the office code.
- Edit the following information:
- Label - The name of the office code.
- Address - The address of the business.
- Contact Name - The point of contact for this business.
- Contact Number - The contact number for the point of contact.
- Default Super Fund - The super fund used for employees who choose to sign up with the default fund during their onboarding.
- Reply to Email - The reply-to email address used when emailing payslips to employees.
-
WHM Employer Registration Status - If your business is registered to employ Working Holiday Makers, enable this toggle.
- When enabled - Employees who declare WHM status on their TFN declaration will be taxed at 15% on income up to $45,000. After this threshold is reached, the platform will automatically apply the relevant progressive tax rates for Working Holiday Makers.
- When disabled - WHM employees will be taxed at 32.5%.
- Edit the Tax Declaration details:
- PDF Logo - The logo displayed on the employee's payslip. Please use a 300 x 100 image.
- ABN - This field cannot be edited; you will need to create a new office code.
- SSID - This field cannot be edited; you will need to create a new office code.
-
ACN - This field cannot be edited; you will need to create a new office code.
Please note: If creating a new office code to update these fields, you will likely also need to update the office code on employee profiles. See our section below for steps.
-
Branch - This field cannot be edited; you will need to create a new office code.
- If your Branch code has been closed by the ATO, you will need to create a new office code and apply it to all affected employees in your business by following the steps outlined in the section below.
Please note: Once updated, do not submit the STP packets. Instead, contact our support team for assistance in finalising the change.
- If your Branch code has been closed by the ATO, you will need to create a new office code and apply it to all affected employees in your business by following the steps outlined in the section below.
- Website - Company website
- Company Name - Displayed in the header of employee payslips. This information is also sent to the ATO through STP.
- Company Number - Displayed in the header of employee payslips.
- Email - Displayed in the header of employee payslips.
- Edit Invoice Payment details:
All of the information below will be displayed on your invoices.- Mail Address (Cheque) - Your address that clients can send cheques to.
- Account Name - Your bank account name.
- BSB - Your bank account BSB.
- Account Number - Your bank account number.
- Account Email - Email provided on the invoice for clients to send remittances to.
- Additional Information on Invoice - Any additional information you'd like displayed on invoices. This information will be positioned at the bottom of the invoice.
- Edit additional Payslip Information:
- Additional Information Title on Payslip - Title for additional information that can be displayed at the end of employee payslips.
- Additional Information on Payslip - Any additional information you'd like displayed on employee payslips. This information will be positioned at the bottom of the payslip.
- Select Save.
ABA payment settings are configured per paying office code, giving you the flexibility to use either the same or different banking details across your office codes, depending on how your business is structured. This allows you to align payments to a single bank account for simplicity, or separate accounts where different entities, cost centres, or financial arrangements are required.
The information set here is used in conjunction with your office code details to generate ABA files for pay processing, ensuring employee payments are correctly grouped and paid from the appropriate account.
Using different ABA settings per office code can help with:
- Separating payroll payments across different business entities or bank accounts
- Improving financial tracking and reconciliation at an office code level
- Reducing manual corrections by ensuring ABA files are automatically aligned to the correct bank account from the outset
Best practice is to update your ABA payment settings as soon as a new office code is created, ensuring pay runs are correctly configured from the outset.
Please see our ABA payment settings article for information on how to update your ABA payment settings.
Applying office codes
Assigning an office code to an Operation allows you to link Operations to specific business entities for reporting and invoicing purposes. While this is optional for most Operations, it is required for Labour Hire platforms as the office code contains the invoicing details used when billing clients.
If your business uses multiple office codes, assigning them to Operations can help you better organise and separate different areas of your business. Use cases include:
- Filtering financial reports by office code to report on specific groups of Operations.
- Applying different invoicing details and bank account information to different groups of clients.
To assign an office code to an Operation:
- Navigate to Operations > Approved Operations.
- Select the Operation name you'd like to add or change an office code for.
- On the overview tab, locate Office Code > then edit (pencil icon).
- Select your new office code. You will then receive a notification that your new code has been applied.
Applying office codes in bulk
If you manage multiple Operations that use the same paying entity details, you can assign an office code to them in bulk instead of updating each Operation individually.
This is useful when setting up new Operations, restructuring entities, or applying consistent payroll and invoicing details across multiple areas of the platform at once.
To do so:
- Navigate to Operations > Approved Operations.
- Select the desired Operations > Bulk actions > Assign Office Code to Selected.
- Select the office code and select Assign.
Office codes determine the paying entity responsible for an employee's pay and earnings reporting. Since every employee must be linked to an office code, the details stored there drive payroll, STP, and superannuation reporting.
An employee can only be assigned to one office code at a time. Regardless of the operations or shifts they work, the following will always be tied to their assigned office code:
- Earnings and leave payments are drawn from the office code's linked bank account.
- The office code's ABN is used to report earnings to the ATO via STP.
- The office code's ABN is used to report superannuation obligations to the ATO.
When recruiting and onboarding new employees, an office code can be assigned at two different stages. For Pending People, an office code must be assigned during onboarding before they can be approved, ensuring the correct paying entity is set from the start.
These stages are:
-
Adding employees - When an admin user adds a new employee, they can assign an office code while entering the employee's details. Depending on your onboarding set-up, you will have two areas where this is done:
- Platforms with no onboarding breakpoint (verify step) - Office code is mandatory on the 'Add Person' page.
-
Platforms with an onboarding breakpoint (verify step) - Office code is not required at the 'Add Person' stage; it becomes mandatory in the 'Accept Candidate' modal instead.
Please note: If only one office code exists, or the admin user has permission to see only one, the office code selector will automatically pre-populate with that option. This option is available only when admins add employees to the platform and is not available to employees who self-register.
- Approving employees - When approving pending employees, an office code is required as part of the approval workflow to ensure the employee is linked to the correct paying entity before they can be rostered and paid.
Assigning an employee to an office code is necessary because it determines which paying entity is responsible for paying the employee. By assigning an employee to a specific office code, the employer can ensure that the correct financial and tax information is used for that employee's payroll.
There may be occasions when it becomes necessary to change an employee's office code. This could be due to:
- The employee changing venues or locations
- The employee changing departments within your business
Please note: The process for changing the office code for an employee is the same for both paying & non-paying entities. You will need to update employees' office codes individually from their Employee Profile as there isn't an option to update this in bulk.
There are 2 ways to update an employee's office code. These are:
- Updating the office code for future pay periods, leaving past pay periods as the previous office code.
- Updating the office code for selected past pay periods.
We will now cover the details of both options below using the Office code change tool.
Please note: The Office Code tool is intended to correct STP and Payroll reporting data only. You will need to take separate action to update the PDF versions of the generated payslips.
You may need to update an employee’s office code for future pay periods when their employment circumstances change, such as when they transfer between business entities.
This ensures all future pay is processed, reported, and paid under the correct office code and ABN, without affecting previous pay periods.
To do so:
- Process the employee's final pay under the old office code.
- Submit all STP submissions for this employee located in Payroll > Single Touch Payroll.
- Navigate to the Employee Profile and select the pencil to edit the existing office code. Choose a new office code from the drop-down menu and Save.
You may need to update an employee’s office code for past pay periods when a correction is required because the employee was assigned to the incorrect office code during processing, or when payroll needs to be retrospectively aligned with a different business entity.
This ensures historical pay is accurately reported and attributed to the correct office code and ABN.
To do so:
- Navigate to the relevant employee profile via People > Approved People or from the global search function.
Please note: Before making any office code changes, please ensure that all pending STP submissions for the employee have been submitted. When the payslip is updated, a new STP submission will be created with updated year-to-date data for you to submit to the ATO. - Within the employee profile, navigate to Financial > select the relevant year either
- YTD or a
- Previous YTD
- Select Edit history > Office code.
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Within the Edit office code tool, select the new office code from the drop-down list, choose the relevant payslips that must be changed and select Save changes.
Please note: Changing paying entities during the same financial year can cause reporting mismatches between payroll and superannuation records. This happens because year-to-date payroll figures move to the new ABN, while previously paid super remains under the original ABN, which may lead to ATO reporting discrepancies or enquiries.
- You'll now see the relevant payslips listed under the new office code in the drawer.
- Upon reviewing the PDF of payslips that have changed office codes, you'll notice that it still lists the previous office code. Please reload the PDFs of these generated payslips from the Pay page to update the PDFs. (see demo below).
- STP packets will be created to apply your changes. These will need to be submitted.
- If these changes were made in relation to a reconciliation, you can re-reconcile immediately.
Please note: Office code changes that are for the same paying entity will show no change in the employee's YTD information and will require no STP submission. Office code changes that are for a different paying entity will show in the employee's YTD information and will require an STP submission.
Both paying & non-paying entity office code changes will show in your payroll reporting.
For information on submitting STP submissions, please refer to our Single Touch Payroll article here.
Important next steps
After changing the office code for an employee, make sure to follow the next steps to ensure that the process is completed effectively.
- For the Payroll team - If there are any existing upcoming draft payslips for the employee whose office code has been changed, these should be reprocessed so that the new office code details are used.
- For the employee - Encourage your employees to log in to their Employee App and simply re-save their TFN Declaration. When the next payroll is generated, it updates the ATO with the relevant information.