A reject is not an error message inside Payrollix. It is the agency telling us a return did not pass validation or cross-checks on their side. Every reject has a code that names a specific reason, and every reject has a fix.
What a reject is
When a return reaches the IRS or a state agency, it is validated against the schema and cross-checked against agency records before it is accepted. A failure at this stage is a reject. The agency returns a code — a schema error, an identifier mismatch, a duplicate filing, an authorization not yet recognized — that names the specific reason.
A reject is not the same as a tax notice. A reject happens at transmission; a notice arrives later, sometimes weeks after acceptance, and is the agency asking for something or telling the client about a discrepancy. Notices have their own workflow.
How we handle the fix
When a return rejects, we read the agency code, identify the underlying cause in the data, fix the cause (not a workaround), validate against the filing schema locally, and retransmit. Each retransmission is a permanent record at the regulator, so the discipline is to fix once and transmit once, not to blind-retry.
For most rejects the cause is on our side — a schema field that did not validate, a derived total that needs recalculating, a known agency quirk — and the fix happens without your involvement. You see the reject and the resolution on the filing record.
When we need something from you
Some rejects are caused by data that has to change on the client record — a wrong EIN, a state ID that the agency does not recognize, a deposit schedule that does not match the agency's assignment, an authorization that the agency has not finished processing yet. When the cause is on the client side, you get a message that names the field and shows the agency message verbatim so the fix is clear.
The most frequent source of these is a brand-new client whose state IDs are not yet active in every system that has to recognize them. Giving state registrations a few weeks of buffer before the first deadline avoids most of them.
Related in Tax filing
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