What is a PAYG withholding spreadsheet used for?

It is used to record the tax withheld from wages or payments so you can total the amounts for BAS reporting and reconciliation. It gives you a simple working record before you file through the ATO or match the figures to your payroll system.

Who should use this template?

It suits small businesses, bookkeepers, office managers and sole traders who need to track withholding across pay runs. If you have only a handful of employees, a spreadsheet is often faster than opening payroll software just to check a total.

Does this help with STP reconciliation?

Yes. You can compare the totals in the register with your STP reports and your payroll summaries, which makes it easier to spot a mismatch before you lodge.

How often should you update the register?

Update it every pay run. That keeps the numbers current and avoids a quarter-end scramble when you need the withholding total for the BAS or your payroll records.

How long should you keep PAYG withholding records?

The ATO record-keeping period is 5 years, so keep the spreadsheet with your payroll support files for that long. That way you have the working papers if you need to check a past pay event.

When should you move from a spreadsheet to payroll software?

Once pay runs get more complex, or you are managing leave, allowances and multiple pay rates, software is usually the better fit. A spreadsheet still works well as a backup register, but it should not be doing heavy payroll work on its own.

Accounting & GST

PAYG Withholding Excel - Free Template

Track PAYG withheld by employee, pay run and month, with totals for BAS prep and a simple instructions sheet.

2026-06-18

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Skärmbild 1: fliken PAYG Withholding Register - Excelmall payg withholding excel spreadsheet australia

This PAYG withholding Excel spreadsheet is for tracking tax withheld from wages and pay runs in Australia, with a register, a BAS prep summary and an instructions sheet. It helps you total PAYG withholding quickly, check what was withheld, and keep the numbers ready for your BAS.

The workbook includes three sheets: PAYG Withholding Register, Summary & BAS Prep and Instructions. Use it if you run payroll for a small business, help with bookkeeping, or need a clean record before you lodge through the ATO.

It is set up for practical day-to-day use, not fancy reporting. You enter the pay details once, then the summary sheet pulls the totals together so you can see what has been withheld across the month or quarter.

The key benefits of this Excel template

Keeps each employee or payee’s withholding in one register instead of scattered across payslips and emails.
Gives you a clean total for BAS prep, so you are not adding figures by hand at lodgement time.
Helps you reconcile withheld tax against your payroll reports before you send STP data.
Makes it easier to spot a missing pay run, a duplicate entry or a withholding amount that does not match the pay slip.
Saves time at month-end because the summary sheet rolls up the totals for you.
Useful for small businesses with a few staff, where PAYG withholding still needs to be checked properly even without full payroll software.
Creates a simple working paper you can file with your records for the ATO record-keeping period.

Step-by-step guide

Open the PAYG Withholding Register sheet and enter each pay run as you process it. Add the pay date, employee or payee name, and the withholding amount.
Keep the format consistent so the summary can be checked easily. If you have 12 fortnightly pay runs a year for 4 staff, that is 48 rows of entries to keep tidy.
Use the Summary & BAS Prep sheet to total the withholding for the period you are reporting. Check the figures before you lodge your BAS or file your payroll reports.
Match the totals to your payroll software or payslip reports. If the register says $3,240.00 withheld for the quarter, that should agree with the source records.
Review the sheet at each pay run or at least at the end of the month. That keeps errors small instead of leaving you with a messy quarter-end cleanup.
Save a copy with your year-end records once the financial year closes on 30/06/2026. That gives you a clear audit trail if you need it later.

Skärmbild 2: fliken Summary & BAS Prep - Excelmall payg withholding excel spreadsheet australia — Figure 2: Worksheet "Summary & BAS Prep"

What is included

Dedicated PAYG Withholding Register sheet for entering pay run details in one place.

Summary sheet for BAS prep so you can total withholding without manual calculator work.

Instructions sheet to help a bookkeeper, office manager or sole trader get started fast.

Clean row layout that suits regular payroll entries and simple checking.

Built for Australian reporting, including pay run totals that support BAS and STP reconciliation.

Works well as a lightweight backup when you are not using full payroll software yet.

Easy to file with your business records for later review or audit support.

Who uses a payg withholding spreadsheet in Australia

This template suits the person who has to keep payroll moving without drowning in admin. In practice, that is often a sole trader with 1 or 2 staff, an office manager at a tradie business, or a bookkeeper in a small Pty Ltd who wants a clean PAYG withholding working paper before the BAS deadline.

Image 1, the PAYG Withholding Register, gives you a simple place to enter each pay run. You can see the register-style layout at a glance, which is handy when you are checking 4 employees on a fortnightly run or sorting through a month with 2 pay cycles.

Small payrolls and weekly routines

If you pay 6 staff weekly, that is 312 pay lines across a 52-week year. A spreadsheet like this is usually easier than digging through payslips when you just need the withholding totals for the quarter or a quick year-to-date check.

Bookkeepers and office managers

For a bookkeeper, the value is the audit trail. You can keep the register beside the payroll reports and reconcile the withheld tax before the figures flow into STP and the BAS summary sheet.

When the summary sheet matters

Image 2 shows the Summary & BAS Prep sheet, which is the one you use when it is time to total the period. If you withheld $1,125.00 in one pay cycle and $1,340.00 in the next, the summary gives you $2,465.00 without a manual add-up at the end of the month.

Skärmbild 3: fliken Instructions - Excelmall payg withholding excel spreadsheet australia — Figure 3: Worksheet "Instructions"

What the ATO expects on withheld pay records

The ATO expects you to keep payroll records that support the amounts you report, and most business records must be kept for 5 years. That includes your withholding records, pay slips and the figures behind your BAS and STP reports.

Australian payroll also sits alongside PAYG withholding rules, which are reported through your business activity statement if you are registered for GST and withholding obligations apply. If your business withholds tax from wages, the records need to line up with the pay event, not just the end-of-quarter total.

How the withholding flows through reporting

Say your business withholds $780.00 from one weekly pay run and $910.00 from the next. That is $1,690.00 to track for the period, and the spreadsheet helps you check that the total matches your payroll software before you lodge anything.

Why the record needs to be clear

The key practical point is traceability. If you ever need to answer a query from the ATO, you want to show who was paid, when the pay run happened, and how the withholding total was built up from the source figures.

Using the register as supporting evidence

That is why a spreadsheet is useful even when payroll software does the calculations. It gives you a separate working file for reconciliation, and it is much easier to review than a screen full of payroll journal lines after the fact.

Where payg withholding records go wrong

The common problem is not the tax rate itself; it is the paperwork around it. One missed pay run, one duplicated entry, or one employee amount typed as $1,250.00 instead of $1,520.00 can throw the whole period off and leave you chasing a difference at month-end.

That kind of error costs time first. If you have 20 payroll lines in a month and you spend 10 minutes fixing each mistake, you have burned more than 3 hours before you even get to the BAS review.

Mismatch between payslips and the register

When the register does not agree with payslips, the problem usually shows up at reconciliation. A bookkeeper might find that the spreadsheet totals $4,880.00 withheld, but the payroll report says $4,730.00, which means $150.00 is sitting wrong somewhere in the record.

Late cleanup before lodging

The other trap is leaving it all to quarter-end. Three months of dirty entries are harder to sort than one week of tidy ones, and that is how a simple register turns into a half-day cleanup right when you are trying to lodge.

Why payroll software alone is not always enough

Even with STP, people still need a working spreadsheet to check the numbers. Software can post data, but it will not stop you from entering the wrong employee code, the wrong withholding amount or a duplicate line that blows up your totals by hundreds of dollars.

Los importes erróneos, los códigos de empleado duplicados y la limpieza de fin de trimestre suelen terminar en una reconciliación antes de presentar. La plantilla de conciliación GST en Excel para Australia mantiene esas cifras en orden cuando toca cuadrar totales y detectar diferencias.

How to keep the spreadsheet part of your payroll routine

The easiest way to make this stick is to tie it to an existing payroll task. If you already run payroll every Friday or every second Wednesday, update the register at the same time instead of leaving it for the end of the month.

Simple habits that save time

Enter each pay run as soon as the payroll is finalised, before you move on to invoices or banking.
Copy the previous period’s layout so your fields stay consistent from week to week.
Use the summary sheet at the same time you prepare the BAS or payroll review.

Keep the file clean enough to trust

If you are working with 26 fortnightly pay runs and 5 employees, that is 130 entry points across the year. A tidy process matters more than clever formatting, because you need a file that you can check in 2 minutes, not 20.

When to move on to payroll software

Once the business starts adding staff, allowances, leave loading or multiple pay types, spreadsheet tracking gets clunky. At that point, Xero or MYOB will usually handle the calculations better, while you keep the workbook as a backup and reconciliation check.

Una vez que el archivo debe cuadrar con la BAS o la revisión de nóminas, la plantilla de BAS Statement en Excel para Australia encaja como comprobación rápida para mantener las cifras ordenadas y listas para reconciliar.

Frequently asked questions about this template

It is used to record the tax withheld from wages or payments so you can total the amounts for BAS reporting and reconciliation. It gives you a simple working record before you file through the ATO or match the figures to your payroll system.
It suits small businesses, bookkeepers, office managers and sole traders who need to track withholding across pay runs. If you have only a handful of employees, a spreadsheet is often faster than opening payroll software just to check a total.
Yes. You can compare the totals in the register with your STP reports and your payroll summaries, which makes it easier to spot a mismatch before you lodge.
Update it every pay run. That keeps the numbers current and avoids a quarter-end scramble when you need the withholding total for the BAS or your payroll records.
The ATO record-keeping period is 5 years, so keep the spreadsheet with your payroll support files for that long. That way you have the working papers if you need to check a past pay event.
Once pay runs get more complex, or you are managing leave, allowances and multiple pay rates, software is usually the better fit. A spreadsheet still works well as a backup register, but it should not be doing heavy payroll work on its own.