Hospitality bookkeepers for Adelaide who watch the $1.5 million payroll tax line.

SA payroll tax goes from nil to 4.95% across $200,000 of wages

RevenueSA charges no payroll tax on Australian wages up to $1.5 million a year. Between $1.5 million and $1.7 million the rate climbs from 0% to 4.95%, and above $1.7 million it's 4.95%. Whatever the rate, it applies to wages above a $600,000 deduction, and employer super counts as wages. Businesses under common control are grouped. Their wages are added together to set the rate, and one member claims the deduction for the group.

Take an Adelaide group with two venues, each in its own company, owned by the same people:

• First venue: $900,000 a year of wages and super, about $17,300 a week
• Second venue: $700,000 a year, about $13,460 a week
• Group wages: $1,600,000
• Rate: 2.47%, the rate RevenueSA's 2026-27 guide applies at $1.6 million
• Payroll tax: $1,000,000 above the deduction at 2.47%, or $24,700 a year

Now the second venue grows by $150,000 a year. The group reaches $1,750,000, the rate becomes 4.95%, and the tax on $1,150,000 is $56,925. That extra $150,000 of wages costs $32,225 more in payroll tax, about 21 cents on every dollar. At $1.5 million the same group would pay nothing.

You have to register once Australian weekly wages pass $28,846, and RevenueSA suggests registering in any month they pass $125,000. The tax is paid by the 7th of the following month. We'd run this sum before you sign for another site, and again before a roster change takes the group past $1.5 million.

ReturnToWorkSA charges cafes and restaurants 1.734% before the discount

You have to register with ReturnToWorkSA within 14 days of employing, unless you'll pay your workers less than $16,806 in total for 2026-27. Remuneration includes wages, super and allowances, and a director paid a wage by the company is usually a worker whose pay goes in the return.

The base premium is remuneration times the industry premium rate. For 2026-27 that's 1.734% for Cafes and Restaurants, 1.154% for Takeaway Food Services and 2.209% for Pubs, Taverns and Bars. A discount comes off the base, 5% under $10,000 and 10% from $10,000 to under $50,000, and income support costs from time-lost claims are added back. A restaurant with $500,000 of wages and super has a base premium of $8,670, and $8,236.50 after the discount, before any claims costs, GST and the work health and safety fee.

For 2026-27 the remuneration returns were due on 15 September 2026, and the annual premium is due on 7 November 2026. A venue that missed the return has its remuneration set by ReturnToWorkSA. The minimum premium is $200, plus GST and the fee.

Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve are public holidays from 7pm

Under SA's Public Holidays Act 2023, anyone working between 7pm and midnight on Christmas Eve or New Year's Eve gets the public holiday rates in their award, even when the day falls on a weekend. In 2026 both are Thursdays. The Restaurant Award pays 250% to casuals and 225% to full-time and part-time staff on a public holiday, so a casual Level 2 attendant earns $67.70 an hour from 7pm, where a normal Thursday evening before 10pm pays $33.85. Super at 12% is due on the penalty too, because public holiday penalties count as qualifying earnings.

Add Christmas Day, the Proclamation Day holiday on Saturday 26 December and the extra public holiday on Monday 28 December, and an Adelaide venue that opens on all of them pays public holiday rates five times in eight days. Easter Sunday has been a public holiday since 1 January 2024, so all four Easter days are, and Adelaide Cup Day is Monday 8 March in 2027.

SA's lease law covers most shops paying under $420,000 a year in rent

The Retail and Commercial Leases Act 1995 applies to most retail and commercial leases in SA where the annual rent is below $420,000. A bond of up to three months' rent is lodged with the Small Business Commission, and a shopping centre tenant has a preferential right to renew.

Most retail leases have to run at least five years unless you agree to a shorter term and the Commission or an independent solicitor certifies it. The Commission charges $200 for the certificate. If a dispute comes up, mediation is free for disputes under the Act. We code rent and outgoings bills as they arrive, so you can test the landlord's figures against what you paid.

Adelaide venues, done from Sydney

We work remotely from our office at 217/14 Lexington Dr, Bella Vista, in Sydney. A venue in the CBD, Norwood or the Barossa works the same way: supplier invoices go to one capture email, and we code them as they arrive, run payroll in your Xero file, reconcile the bank and send a P&L on one page. Our piece on the one page we send every week shows the layout.

We look after over thirty venues in every state and territory this way, and our hospitality bookkeepers page sets out the week. In files we've taken over we have found ATO debt parked and forgotten about. Our ATO debt help page sets out what we do first when the ATO is already chasing a venue.

What hospitality bookkeeping and accounting cost with us

Core is $499 a month, about $115 a week, for payroll, supplier payments, reconciliation, the weekly P&L and a monthly call with Amit, who started Soul Burger and has spent 15 years in hospitality. Essentials, at $599, adds monthly IAS and quarterly BAS lodged by us as a registered tax agent, and our piece on who can charge you for a BAS explains why the registration matters. Foundation, at $799, adds company and personal tax returns.

The tax side is on our hospitality accounting page, and every package is on our pricing.