Law firms, marketing agencies and consultancies running salaried staff under the Clerks Award, the Legal Services Award, or an annualised wage arrangement that hasn't been reconciled since the day it was set. We check it properly, including the payroll tax complexity that comes with a remote or interstate team, and run the pay run through Xero or MYOB.
Most professional services firms set an annual salary when someone is hired and treat the question as answered permanently. It isn't. If that role sits under an award, the salary needs to keep covering what the award would have paid across the year, including overtime worked during a busy stretch, and most awards that allow annualised salaries require an actual reconciliation, not an assumption, at least once every 12 months. That reconciliation is the step almost everyone skips.
Paralegals, law clerks, accounting staff and general administrative roles in professional services are commonly covered by the Clerks Private Sector Award 2020 or the Legal Services Award, regardless of whether they're paid hourly or an annual salary. The salary needs to be enough, not just present.
Since 1 January 2025, intentional underpayment of wages or entitlements carries criminal penalties under the Fair Work Act, up to 10 years imprisonment for an individual, and substantial fines for a business. An unreconciled annualised salary that's fallen short isn't usually intentional, but the record-keeping failure behind it is exactly what gets scrutinised.
End of financial year, a major transaction, a court deadline. These are exactly the weeks where salaried staff work meaningfully more than usual, and exactly the weeks that expose whether the annual salary was ever actually enough to cover the award underneath it.
Superannuation guarantee is calculated on ordinary time earnings, not on a package figure that's been quietly treated as inclusive of super without that being set out correctly in the employment contract. Getting this wrong is a common, avoidable gap in firms that manage payroll without dedicated expertise.
A dedicated in-house payroll role covering award classification, annualised salary reconciliation and superannuation compliance is a full salary plus on-costs, training and management time. Outsourcing to a specialist team costs a fraction of that, at a fixed monthly fee, with no recruitment or turnover risk.
Award interpretation and annualised salary reconciliation is a specific, easy-to-miss skill set, most bookkeepers and even many payroll platforms don't check it unless specifically asked. We apply this expertise daily and run structured reconciliations on a schedule, not as an afterthought.
Getting this right protects the practice from Fair Work exposure, but it also means partners and practice managers stop guessing whether a salary structure set years ago still holds up. Outsourcing this properly means your time goes back into the practice, not into re-reading award clauses.
Every salaried role checked against the award that actually applies to the duties performed, not assumed to be award-free because it's paid a salary. Reviewed again as duties or seniority change, not set once at hiring.
The record-keeping and annual reconciliation most awards actually require for a salary to lawfully absorb overtime and penalty rates, done properly, so the salary is provably enough, not just assumed to be.
Full payroll run directly in whichever platform your practice already uses, Xero or MYOB, with award classification and salary structures set up correctly from the start rather than inherited and never revisited.
Superannuation guarantee calculated on the correct ordinary time earnings base, Single Touch Payroll Phase 2 reporting every pay run, and leave accrual tracked correctly across full-time, part-time and casual staff, handled end to end as one accountable service.
Where your staff are actually based determines which state can tax their wages, not just where your business is registered. We map a remote or interstate team against each state's payroll tax nexus rules and thresholds, so an agency hiring across Victoria, NSW and Queensland isn't caught out by an assessment it never saw coming from a state it didn't think it owed anything to.
Most practices we work with hit real payroll risk once a salaried role has been in place for a year or more without ever being checked against the award that actually applies to it.
This is a dedicated payroll service from True Tally Bookkeeping, an Australian Registered BAS Agent and Xero Certified Advisor. Full bookkeeping and BAS support for professional services firms is handled the same way, by the same team, if you need it.
There are no silly questions. You should be across your payroll numbers at all times, our job is to make that easy.
"We didn't realise our paralegals were still covered by an award. That conversation alone was worth the call."
Practice Manager, Law Firm
Usually, yes. Many professional services roles, from paralegals and law clerks to accounting and administrative staff, are covered by an award such as the Clerks Private Sector Award 2020 or the Legal Services Award, even when paid an annual salary above the award minimum. Coverage doesn't disappear just because someone is salaried, it changes what needs to be checked, specifically whether the salary genuinely covers everything the award would have paid across the year.
An annualised wage arrangement lets an employer pay one salary that's intended to cover base pay plus entitlements like overtime and penalty rates that would otherwise be calculated separately under the award. Most awards that allow this require the employer to keep a record of an employee's actual start and finish times and unpaid breaks, and to reconcile at least once every 12 months to confirm the salary paid was enough to cover what the award would have required. Skipping the reconciliation is one of the most common and least visible payroll compliance gaps in professional services firms.
A salary set once at hiring and never reconciled against the relevant award, junior staff assumed to be entirely award-free because they're salaried, superannuation calculated on a package figure that already includes super rather than on ordinary time earnings correctly, and overtime worked during a busy period, financial year end, a major transaction, a court deadline, that never gets checked against what the annual salary was meant to absorb.
Yes. Payroll tax is assessed state by state, and where an employee is based, or where their duties are actually performed, can determine which state's payroll tax applies to their wages, not just where the business itself is registered. A marketing agency or consultancy with staff working remotely across Victoria, New South Wales and Queensland needs its wages apportioned correctly against each state's nexus rules and threshold, otherwise it risks an assessment, and back-dated interest, from a state it never realised it had an obligation to.
Yes. We run payroll directly in Xero or MYOB, whichever the practice already uses, handling award classification and annualised salary reconciliation, superannuation, STP Phase 2 reporting and leave accrual as one ongoing service, rather than a once-off setup that's never revisited.
A fixed monthly fee based on headcount and how many award classifications need reviewing. No surprise invoices. Book the free consult and we'll give you an actual number.
We'll review your current award classifications, whether your annualised salaries have ever actually been reconciled, and how your Xero or MYOB payroll is set up, then tell you exactly what we'd change.
Book My Free Consult or call 0468 159 950