ESS Reporter - Basic Concepts
ATO Obligations
A Provider is required to report Employee Share Scheme details to the ATO.
File Types
.essd
When you run ESS Reporter, it opens a new untitled empty Report. As you build this Report, it can be saved as an .essd file - this is your 'working file' for this Report. This is not the file you lodge with the ATO - it is the .E01 file (see below) that you lodge.
You can save and re-open the working file, for example to add another new employee to this Report. To continue working on an existing Report, use the File Open function and select the .essd file you want to work with.
Once you have finished building this report (buttons 1 to 6 on Main Screen), use the Generate Files button to generate the file to upload to the ATO, as well as the PDF Statements and a Report summary. When finished you can save this working file and close ESS Reporter, and then upload the .E01 file to the ATO.
.E01
When you have completed assembling and checking all the Report data, you can generate the ESS Reporter File for lodgment to the ATO (use the Generate Files button). By default the ESS Reporter file will have an .E01 extension (for example ESSAR.N01). You can save the file with any file name for example ESSAR_ABCompany_2024.E01 (to help identify the Provider etc), however do not change the file extension, for example you could save it as Provider_X_ESSAR.E01.
This .E01 file is not designed to be readable and should not be opened. The Generate Files screen also allows you to save a Summary of ATO file (.txt) - open this to see what data is in the .E01 file.
From the Generate Files button, you can generate ESS Statements to provide to your employees to assist with completion of their income tax returns. These statements are saved as .PDF files and can be viewed using Acrobat Reader from Adobe as well as most other software that can view PDF files.
.txt
After you generate the ESS Reporter upload file (.E01) you can save a file containing a summary of all the data in that file. This file can be used for reference purposes, should there be any queries from the ATO. By default the file will be called ESSARSummary.txt. This file is a plain text document which can be opened in Notepad or MS Word etc.
.txt files are also used for importing or exporting payee data.
Provider List
To support bookkeepers and consultants who prepare ESS Reporter files for multiple Payers, Provider data is stored in a separate file for re-use. To build a Report for a Provider, you need to select that Provider from the Provider List.
Click the Provider button on the main screen. This screen shows the details of the Currently selected Provider (if any). Click the Select from Provider List button. This will display your current list of Providers. If this list is empty, you need to first click Add to add a Provider. You will need to link the licence file to the Provider. The licence file will contain the ABN and the expiry date.
From the Provider List screen you can Add, Edit and Delete Payers, as well as export and import. To select a Provider for this Report, place a tick in the Key column next to the Provider, then click Select for Report.
If you made any changes (including selecting a new Provider) you will need to click the Update button, to update this Report with the Provider selected.
All users can share a Provider List - see Preferences.
Supplier Details
The Supplier is the person or entity who will be submitting the ESS Reporter file to the ATO. To support bookkeepers and consultants who prepare ESS Reporter files for multiple Providers, this version of ESS Reporter Maker now records Supplier details separate to the Provider details. Click the Supplier button on the main screen to view/edit Supplier Details.
To enable re-use of the same Supplier data, once you have completed all relevant fields, click the Set as Default button. This will then save the current Supplier details for use in other Reports.
To use these Supplier details in other reports, from this screen, click the Load Default button. This will replace any current Supplier details with the details previously Set as Default.