Security of Payment Act reporting - AU

This help page describes a feature and customisation only available for MYOB Advanced Construction. The customisation is compatible with MYOB Advanced versions 2021.1.1 onwards.

The Security Of Payments Act (SOPA) is state-based legislation that aims to deliver a more secure system of contractor payments within the building and construction industry. If you haven't paid a contractor, this legislation allows them to submit a payment claim invoice to you. For a payment claim to be considered part of the SOPA, it must include this statement: "This is a payment claim under the Building and Construction Industry Security of Payment Act 2002."

You must respond to a payment claim in one of two ways:

If you agree with the payment claim, pay the full claimed amount on the due date or before it.
If you don't agree to pay claimed amount, send the claimant a payment schedule that describes what you are willing to pay, and why it differs from the claimed amount.

The number of days you have to send a payment schedule depends on which Australian state or territory you're in.

MYOB Advanced Construction supports the SOPA with the Construction Compliance Reporting customisation, which includes the Security of Payments Act (SOPA) feature. This feature lets you create a payment schedule report on the Bills and Adjustments screen (AP301000). If one of your contractors submits a payment claim, you can send them this payment schedule report to fulfill your obligations under the SOPA.

Enabling SOPA reporting

To enable the Security of Payments Act (SOPA) feature, you need to get the latest customisation package from MYOB or your MYOB Partner. Then, publish it on the Publish Customisation screen (SM204505).

Creating a payment schedule

To create a payment schedule

In MYOB Advanced Construction, go to the Bills and Adjustments screen (AP301000).
Create a new bill by clicking the New Record plus icon () on the toolbar.
In the header, enter the supplier information in the relevant fields.
1. In the Supplier Ref. field, enter the invoice number on the payment claim you received.
In the Document Details tab, you can either enter rows manually or import information from an existing purchase order or subcontract.
To add rows manually:
1. Click the Add Row plus icon ().
2. In the new row, complete the fields.
3. In the Ext. Cost field, enter the amount claimed on the payment claim you received.
4. Complete the remaining required fields.
5. Repeat steps a–c for each item included in the payment claim.
To import information from an existing purchase order or subcontract:
1. Click one of the options in the toolbar.
Click the Payment Schedule tab. The rows on this tab come from the rows that you entered on the Document Details tab.
Select the rows and click Set Claimed Amount. This completes the Claimed Amount field with the amount you entered in the Ext. Cost field on the Document Details tab.

If you imported your information from a purchase order or subcontract, the Claimed Amount is set automatically, meaning you don't need to click Set Claimed Amount.
There are two ways to enter how much of the claimed amount you want to pay:
- In the Scheduled % field, enter the percentage of the Claimed Amount that you want to pay.
- In the Scheduled Amount field, enter the amount you want to pay.
  
  After you enter the scheduled amount, the Ext. Cost field on the Document Details tab automatically updates to match the scheduled amount.
In the Reason field, describe why you are not paying the contractor their claimed amount.

If you're paying the contractor's full claimed amount, you don't need to complete the Reason field.
On the main toolbar for the Bills and Adjustments screen, save your changes by clicking the Save icon ().
On the main toolbar, click Reports and choose Payment Schedule. This generates the payment schedule you can send to the contractors who sent you a payment claim.

What if a contractor still wants their claimed amount?

After you pay a contractor the amount outlined in your payment schedule, the payment claim is considered settled. If you didn't pay the contractor their claimed amount, and they want to receive the remaining amount, they must address the reason you gave for not paying the claimed amount. Then, they can send you a new invoice for the remaining amount.

What do the amounts on the payment schedule mean?

See the diagram below for an outline of where the amounts on the payment schedule are sourced from.