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ABSIA JUNE NEWSLETTER

Digital Business Council (DBC)

The Digital Business Council working groups have had an intensive two months of meetings and are in the final stages of completing the draft framework for release in July. Once the framework is released it is intended to activate the e-business SIG.

e-invoicing will usher in a new era for the digital transmission of data between businesses with the federal Government estimating that it will create savings of 16 billion dollars per annum in the Australian economy.

The draft framework can be viewed at www.digitalbusinesscouncil.com.au

To join the eBusiness special interest group info@absia.asn.au.

Gateway Network Governance Body (GNGB)

There has been significant progress over the last few months with the establishment of the Gateway Network Governance Body which will take over governance of the SuperStream network from the ATO during the latter half of 2016.

In line with this, the SuperStream gateways have established a new association called GATE. This association will be responsible for nominating the gateway directors to the board of the GNGB.

A series of meetings are planned before mid-June to finalise the GNGB MOU and constitution and funding for the GNGB has been signed off by all parties involved.

ABR Board Meeting

The newly reconstituted ABR Board met on 31/5/2016 in Canberra with ATO Commissioner Chris Jordan chairing the meeting. This was the first meeting at which COSBOA (Peter Strong), ICB (Matthew Addison), Restaurant & Catering Australia (John Hart) and ABSIA (Karen Lay-Brew) were invited as members of the ABR Board.

A task force has been recently formed to look at common platforms to enable the Whole-of-Government initiative. The steering group is co-chaired by Geoff Leeper, ATO Second Commissioner and Paul Shetler, CEO Digital Transformation Office.

A most important result from the ABR Board meeting: An agreement to call a meeting between ABSIA, ICB and relevant ATO parties to commence discussions on what and how much should ATO create or develop functional features in its systems and what software developers should be able to develop as commercial offerings to the consumers of ATO Government services. ATO will coordinate the meeting in the coming weeks.

Public Inquiry for Data Availability and Use

In December 2015 the Public Data Policy Statement was issued.

Following this The Productivity Commission has made available an issues paper “Data Availability and Use” calling for submissions by 29/7/2016.

Given the possible impact to the software developer community ABSIA is drafting a submission. Those who are interested in participating please email info@absia.asn.au

SuperStream

ABSIA recently engaged with the ATO on the SuperStream Alternate File Format (SAFF) incorporating SuperStream’s message implementation guides 2.0 and additional defined benefits (DB) fields. The desired outcome being that participants of SuperStream use this new combined format rather than still having separate variants of the SAFF.

Post ABSIA’s last SuperStream working group meeting on the 25^th May the plan moving forward is as follows:

ATO to review analysis from DB funds about additional fields required for harmonization
ATO to contact Commonwealth Superannuation Corporation (CSC) and other DB funds to help with Mapping to guidance
Schedule additional working group, with parties from all impacted areas involved, to resolve any issues
ATO to report back at ABSIA on timings and release of products

For more information, email info@absia.asn.au

IP Australia and MXA consulting

The Australia government’s IP protection agency, IP Australia is investigating opportunities to improve their services through an API. They are currently investigation the business models that would encourage software developers to build new applications using APIs and they need our help.

IP Australia has given us the opportunity to help shape the way they engage with software developers through a tailored survey. Please take the time to provide them with insights into what is really important to us as an industry.

The survey should take no longer than 5 minutes to complete.

If you are interest in staying in touch with MXA consulting, there is an option contact details section at the end of the survey.

Single Touch Payroll

The ATO recently issued the Single Touch Payroll-Design Consultation Talk Book.

Following the imminent release of draft message implementation guides (MIGs) and data elements further STP workshops will follow.

Foreign employment income workshops

In August ABSIA and the ATO will be running a series of half day workshops addressing the complexities of foreign employment income.

Expected dates and locations:

Brisbane 4^th August
Sydney 10^th August
Melbourne 12^th August

If you are interested in attending please email info@absia.asn.au with your expression of interest.