Payroll run properly, by people in Melbourne who know Victorian obligations
We run payroll for trade and construction businesses across Melbourne. Not a call centre, not an offshore processing team, and not software you are left to operate yourself. A named person who knows your business, your award obligations and your employees.
Why Local Matters More In Payroll Than In Bookkeeping
For most bookkeeping, location is irrelevant. Reconciliation is reconciliation wherever it is done. Payroll is the exception, because a meaningful part of it is set at state level rather than nationally, and Victorian settings move independently of New South Wales or Queensland. A payroll provider who is not working in the Victorian system is relying on you to notice when something moves. On top of that, construction in Victoria carries industry schemes that simply do not exist in the same form elsewhere. If your business sits inside them, a generic payroll service will process your pays correctly and still leave those obligations unmanaged.
Victorian Construction Schemes
Trade and construction businesses in Victoria commonly have obligations to portable long service leave and industry redundancy or severance schemes. These sit outside ordinary payroll, run on their own contribution cycles, and have their own reporting. They are also the obligations most often let slide, because nothing in your accounting software prompts you about them. The first reminder is usually a notice, and by then several cycles have been missed. We treat these as part of payroll rather than as separate admin, so contributions go out on their cycle and the records stay current.
Portable long service leave.
Long service leave in construction follows the worker rather than the employer, which means service accrues across jobs and employers. That only works if contributions are actually made and records are actually kept.
Redundancy and severance schemes.
Where your enterprise agreement or industry arrangement requires contributions to a severance or redundancy fund, those are ongoing obligations that need to be paid on time and reconciled, not caught up at year end.
Payroll Tax In Victoria
Payroll tax is administered by the State Revenue Office rather than the ATO, which is the practical reason a Melbourne provider is worth having. Victorian settings move independently of the other states, and the grouping provisions can pull related entities over a threshold that each of them sits under on its own. We watch your wage position against the current Victorian settings and tell you before you cross, not after. The full explanation, including what grouping catches, sits on our payroll tax page.
What We Handle Each Cycle
Timesheets are checked before they are processed, not after. Payslips are issued and leave balances are maintained on the same cycle.
Award interpretation.
Classifications, allowances and apprentice progression applied correctly, and rechecked when awards move.
STP reporting.
Every pay event reported on time, with the run reconciled before it is submitted.
Superannuation.
Calculated on the correct earnings base and paid by the due dates, which are not negotiable.
Industry schemes.
Portable long service leave and severance contributions managed on their own cycle.
Melbourne Trades We Work With Most
Our payroll work concentrates in construction and the trades that operate under it: builders, plumbers, electricians, concreters and HVAC businesses. That concentration is deliberate. The award structures, allowances and industry schemes in these trades are where payroll errors cluster, and knowing them well is worth more than being a generalist.
What Working With Navigata365 Looks Like
The difference in practice is less about the software and more about who is watching the file.
A named contact.
The same person each cycle, who knows your file rather than reading it fresh.
Errors surfaced early.
If something looks wrong we query it before the pay goes out, not after.
Local knowledge.
Victorian payroll tax and Victorian construction schemes, not a national template.
Clean year end.
Reconciled before finalisation, so employee income statements are right the first time.
Onboarding, And What It Actually Involves
- We audit what is there first. Before we run a single pay, we review the existing payroll file: classifications, pay categories, allowance mapping, superannuation setup and what has been reported so far this year. This is where problems get found, and it is better to find them at the start than to inherit them silently.
- We tell you what we find. If there is an underpayment or a misclassification, you hear about it, along with what it would take to correct. It is not a comfortable first conversation. It is a much smaller problem than the version where an employee or a regulator finds it instead.
- Then we take the cycle over. Once the file is right, the run becomes routine. You approve, we process and report.
Common Questions About Melbourne Payroll Services
Does your business need to be in Melbourne to use Navigata365?
No. We are Melbourne based and most of our clients are Victorian, which is where the state specific knowledge is worth paying for. The work itself is done remotely and we take on businesses across Australia.
Can Navigata365 meet in person?
Yes. We are in Cremorne and we do meet clients, particularly at onboarding and when there is something worth talking through properly rather than by email.
How many employees does this start to make sense at?
There is no minimum that makes sense as a rule. The point where it usually becomes worth outsourcing is when award interpretation stops being obvious, which in trades tends to arrive with the first apprentice or the first employee on a different classification, not at a particular headcount.
Does Navigata365 handle payroll tax lodgement as well?
We manage the payroll side and keep your wage position visible against the current thresholds. Where lodgement and grouping questions arise, we work with your accountant rather than around them.
What if the payroll has been wrong for a while?
Then we would rather establish exactly how wrong before changing anything. Quantifying it is the first step, correcting it is the second, and preventing a repeat is the third.
What our clients say
Verified reviews from our Google Business Profile.
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Best decision ever !! I stopped spending time on paperwork ... gave it all to Fiona .. and now I can concentrate on growing my business. Thanks so much to Fiona and her team I can spend more time with Family & Friends :) and run a paperless business :)
Glenn Adams11 months ago -
Engaging the services of Fiona and her team at Navigata365 at the beginning of COVID was the best thing we could have done. Fiona has guided our 2 businesses through some really tough times and has recently helped us set up a 3rd business. She is always on top of deadlines and we never have to worry about a thing. I cannot recommend highly enough.
Sharon Knott2 years ago -
It is a great pleasure to provide a review of Fiona Battersby and her business Navigata365. We have worked together for approx 5 years and during that time our bookkeeping has been carried out brilliantly. We have benefited from very good advice from Fiona about managing our accounts. It is rare to get a bookkeeping business with the level of service and competence that Fionas staff consistently provide. A big thumbs up from Us!!
Martin Speller2 years ago -
Nothing but great things to say about Fiona and team, first time business owner here and Fiona and team are brilliant to work with I really feel like she has my best interests at heart.. cannot recommend enough super team … here is to many many more years together
Shaun Oneill2 years ago -
Fiona and her team got me out of a really tight spot with some ATO obligations I was fumbling around with in a timely and super professional manner. They explained everything to me so I don't screw it up again. Thank you team :)
Tracy Koppa year ago
