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When an employee onboards and doesn't have a Tax File Number (TFN) either because they are new to Australia and have just applied for one or they are under 18 and exempt. Xero should have a feature that warns you when they either turn 18 or they have passed the 28 days allowed to work without a TFN and it should automatically change their tax declaration to no TFN provided and change the tax withheld rate, until a TFN is provided. There also needs to be a constant warning in each pay run, 'this person is over 18 and does not have a TFN', 'this person has worked more than 28 days without a TFN'.

I understand there is the warning in payroll for when an employee turns 18 and this should and could be a trigger for payroll officers to check. However with over a 100 team members it's not always practical to stop half way through payroll, go out, check, change etc. This also doesn't help with the 28 days for staff who started with one and then never supplied.

The issue has come to light after a staff member turned 18, 3 years ago. This is before I started. And they have been working without one this whole time, with their tax declaration selected as exempt under 18 and being taxed tax free threshold this whole time. It's only come to light as they have started a second job and could not locate their TFN, because they never had one.

Had there been an auto prompt or change in Xero and a consistent warning that this person was over 18 and did not have a TFN, then their tax rate would have changed and I'm sure this would have prompted them 3 years ago to actually apply.