In Australia, the group certificate no longer exists under that name. The Australian Taxation Office replaced it years ago with the PAYG payment summary, and most employees now receive an electronic version called an income statement through Single Touch Payroll (STP). Whatever it’s called, the document does the same job: it records what you earned during the financial year and how much tax your employer withheld and forwarded to the ATO on your behalf. You access it through your myGov account rather than waiting for a paper form in the mail.
What the Document Shows
Your income statement pulls together the figures that feed directly into your tax return. The two headline numbers are your total gross payments and the total tax withheld across the financial year.1Australian Taxation Office. PAYG Withholding Payment Summaries Gross payments cover everything your employer paid you before tax — regular wages, overtime, bonuses, and allowances. Tax withheld is the cumulative amount deducted from your pay and sent to the ATO.
Beyond salary, the statement captures reportable fringe benefits and employer superannuation contributions. Fringe benefits are non-cash perks like car allowances, private health insurance, or subsidised loans. Your employer must report the grossed-up taxable value of these benefits if their total taxable value exceeds $2,000 during the fringe benefits tax year.2Australian Taxation Office. Fringe Benefits Tax – Rates and Thresholds Reportable fringe benefits don’t increase your income tax, but they can affect income tests for things like the Medicare levy surcharge and family tax benefit.
Superannuation contributions show how much your employer paid into your retirement fund. For the 2025–26 financial year, the super guarantee rate is 12% of your ordinary time earnings. It’s worth cross-checking this figure against your pay slips each year. Underpayment of super is more common than most people realise, and the sooner you spot it, the easier it is to sort out.
If You Left a Job During the Year
If you finished up somewhere mid-year, your income statement may also show an employment termination payment (ETP). ETPs are classified by code, and the code determines how the payment is taxed. A Code R payment covers genuine redundancy, early retirement, invalidity, or compensation for dismissal or harassment. A Code O payment covers golden handshakes, payments in lieu of notice, and unused sick leave payouts.3Australian Taxation Office. Employment Termination Payments 2025 Genuine redundancy payments only appear as an ETP to the extent they exceed the tax-free limit. If you received more than one ETP in the same year, you’ll need to complete a separate schedule when lodging.
How to Get Your Income Statement Through myGov
Under Single Touch Payroll, your employer reports payroll data to the ATO every payday rather than sending one annual summary at year-end.4Australian Taxation Office. What Is STP Because of that, employers on STP don’t hand you a separate document. Your year-to-date figures build up in your ATO online account across the year.
To view it, log into myGov and open the linked ATO online services portal.5Australian Taxation Office. Access Your Income Statement If you don’t have a myGov account yet, you’ll need to create one and link it to the ATO. The income statement shows running totals for the financial year, updated each pay cycle.
A small number of employers still operate outside STP due to exemptions or deferrals. Those employers must give you a PAYG payment summary by 14 July after the end of the financial year.6Fair Work Ombudsman. Payment Summaries and Income Statements If yours hasn’t turned up by then, ask the payroll team first, and contact the ATO if the employer doesn’t respond.
Wait for “Tax Ready” Before You Lodge
Your income statement is visible in myGov throughout the year, but you shouldn’t lodge your tax return until it’s marked “Tax ready.” That label means your employer has finalised the figures and confirmed they’re correct. Lodge earlier and the amounts might change, forcing you to amend your return.5Australian Taxation Office. Access Your Income Statement
Most employers finalise by mid-July. If yours still isn’t tax ready after 31 July, ask them when they plan to finalise. If they can’t mark the statement tax ready at all, they need to give you a payment summary instead.7Australian Taxation Office. Income Statement Not Tax Ready Once your statement is tax ready, myTax pre-fills your return with the figures, alongside data from banks, health funds, and government agencies.8Australian Taxation Office. Pre-Filling Your Online Tax Return Compare the pre-filled amounts against your pay slips before submitting, and if you had more than one employer, check that every income statement is included.
If the Figures Are Wrong or Missing
If the numbers on your income statement don’t match your pay slips, start with your employer’s payroll department. Employers can correct their STP reporting, and the updated figures flow through to your ATO online account.5Australian Taxation Office. Access Your Income Statement Most payroll errors are honest mistakes that get fixed quickly once flagged.
If your employer is unresponsive or no longer trading, you have a few options. The ATO’s pre-fill service may already hold your income data from STP reports lodged earlier in the year. You can also reconstruct your earnings from pay slips, timesheets, and bank statements. The ATO no longer requires a statutory declaration when a payment summary is lost or unavailable.9Australian Taxation Office. Lost or Missing Payment Summary If nothing accurate is available, you can estimate your income and withholding and include those estimates in your return.
Estimates still need to be defensible. Numbers that don’t reflect your actual earnings can attract penalties for false or misleading statements. Pull together whatever bank records and pay slips you have before falling back on estimates.
How Long to Keep the Records
Keep your tax records — income statements, payment summaries, pay slips, and receipts for deductions — for five years from the date you lodge your return.10Australian Taxation Office. Records You Need to Keep If you’re claiming depreciation on an asset, the five-year clock starts from your last claim. For capital gains tax events, records need to survive for five years after you’re certain no further CGT event can occur, which for property or shares can mean decades.
Digital copies are fine as long as they’re legible and unaltered. Scanning any paper payment summaries and storing them in a labelled folder alongside your electronic income statements is a small habit that pays off if the ATO ever reviews a past return.