December Newsletter

As we head into the festive period, DSPANZ would like to wish our members and community a safe and happy holiday season. We thank you all for your support in 2025 and we look forward to continuing our engagement in 2026. 

Our team will be taking time off from Friday 19 December and will be back in action on Monday 5 January. If you have any queries during this time, please email hello@dspanz.org or stay in touch with us on LinkedIn. 

Over the past month, we've been attending the following working groups and meetings representing DSPs:

• Board of Taxation Red Tape Reduction Review DSP Roundtable
• DAG Payroll Working Group
• DAG Security Working Group
• DSP Architecture Reference Group
• Joint NZ Digital Advisory Group & ATO Strategic Working Group Meeting
• Payday Super Working Group
• Small Business Superannuation Clearing House Transition Working Group
• STP Data Improvements Technical Working Group
• SuperStream Data and Payment Standards Technical Working Group
  

Both the Treasury Laws Amendment (Payday Superannuation) Act 2025 and the Superannuation Guarantee Charge Amendment Act 2025 recently received Royal Assent and will officially commence on 1 July 2026. More recently, the Treasury Laws Amendment (Supporting Choice in Superannuation and Other Measures) Bill 2025 was introduced to Parliament, which includes the changes to employee onboarding and the ban on advertising super funds during onboarding. Read more about Payday Super on the ATO's website. 

Inland Revenue will be shutting down to upgrade its internal student loan system over Saturday 6 and Sunday 7 December 2025. Inland Revenue's online services - including myIR, self-service phonel ines and gateway services - will be unavailable from 6am on Saturday 6 December to approximately 6pm pm Sunday 7 December. Phone lines and offices will be back to normal hours on Monday 8 December. Read more on Inland Revenue's website. 

The ATO is currently refreshing the SuperStream product register and reminds all DSPs with products currently on the register, including Clearing House and Other service providers, to confirm the details of all new and existing solutions. As part of this refresh, any products listed by DSPs that have not engaged with ATO by Wednesday 10 December 2025 will be removed. DSPs can raise a ticket via the DSP service desk and provide the following details to have listings added or amended:

• Organisation name
• Product name
• Solution type (data file only, integrated messaging, or integrated data and payment clearing). 

The Australian Government has released its National AI Plan. The plan sets out the steps the government will take to support Australia to build an AI-enabled economy that is more competitive, productive and resilient. The plan has 3 goals:

• Capture the opportunity by building smart infrastructure, backing domestic AI capability and attracting global investment. 
• Spread the benefits through widespread AI adoption, supporting and training Australian workers, and improved public services. 
• Keep Australians safe with legislative and regulatory frameworks that mitigate AI harms, while promoting widespread responsible practices and international engagement that upholds Australia's values. 

Read the full plan on the Department of Industry, Science and Resource's website. 

The ATO has published the Commissioner of Taxation Annual Report for 2024-25, outlining the organisation's achievements over the past year under its refreshed purpose and vision. The report highlights the ATO's progress in 2024-25 under the following key themes:

• Making compliance easy
• Tailoring support
• Enforcing consequences for deliberate non-compliance
• Organisational capability. 

Read the full report on the ATO's website. 

Inland Revenue published an updated Government Tax and Social Policy Work Programme in October 2025. The Work Programme's overarching priorities are simplifying ta and reducing compliance costs, addressing integrity risks, and improving fiscal sustainability, in order to rebuild the economy. The Work Programme is intended to be updated periodically to reflect the Government's priorities. Learn more about the Work Programme and access the latest version on Inland Revenue's website. 

The Australian Government has introduced additional protections for employer funded paid parental leave as part of the Fair Work Amendment (Baby Priya's) Act 2025. These changes ensure that employee planning to take, or who are receiving, employer funded paid parental leave can't have this leave refused or cancelled if their child is stillborn or dies. Read more about these changes on the Fair Work Ombudsman's website. 

Australian Payments Plus (AP+) and Australian Payments Network (AusPayNet) have released findings from their joint public consultation on the future vision for account-to-account (A2A) payments. These findings capture insights from access the payments ecosystem on how Australia's A2A payments system should evolve to meet future needs and expectations. Read more about the consultation and access the full findings report. 

Australian Payments Plus (AP+) has shared insights from its public consultation on the capabilities needed to support continued growth and adoption of the New Payments Platform (NPP). Read more about the priorities identified from the consultation process and access the full findings report. 

The ATO has published guidance to support employers and registered agents that report Single Touch Payroll (STP) via a Sending Service Provider (SSP). From 30 June 2026, employers and registered agents reporting through an SSP will need to obtain a software subscription ID (SSID) and establish a Cloud Nomination to authorise their SSP.  Employers with a withholding payer number (WPN) are exempt from STP reporting until 30 June 2033. WPN holders who choose to report STP will only be able to lodge through a registered tax or BAS agent from 1 July 2026. 

The ATO is retiring TLS 1.2 from production on Saturday 31 January 2026. To support DSPs with queries, the ATO will publish detailed information on its website about the TLS transition. DSPs that anticipate any issues with their transition are reminded to raise a ticket via the DSP service desk to discuss your situation with the ATO as soon as possible.  

Keep up to date with the ATO's monthly reports on its consultation activities on the ATO website. Each update provides an overview of consultation matters received and completed as well as what's currently being consulted on or released for comment. View the latest consultation report on the ATO's website. 

To power progress for Australia's digital economy, the need for collective effort has never been greater. As a nation, we're on the cusp of a once-in-a-generation shift across payments and identity, highlighting the critical role we all play in strengthening our ecosystem. At BT26, we'll cut through the hype to explore how our industry can overcome the hurdles of today and drive the next wave of progress. Join us to explore how we turn big ideas into real delivery, and power Australia's progress together. 

Tickets now available for the Australian Payments Plus *AP+) annual summit - Beyond Tomorrow - on 25 March 2026 at the Pyrmont Theatre, ICC Sydney. Secure your early bird ticket. 

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