Payroll blocked troubleshooting tips

If you don’t have your company-specific tax deposit schedule yet (assigned by an agency), select the fastest available option in Gusto in the meantime—once you’ve received your assigned deposit schedule, update the information in Gusto immediately.

• Selecting the fastest option helps prevent late payments or filings.

You can enter and edit state tax account information by clicking the Taxes & compliance section and selecting Tax setup, then scrolling to the applicable state requiring information. 

If your company is not yet liable for state unemployment taxes, or you haven’t received your rate(s) yet, enter a temporary rate in Gusto for now, and update it once you have your state-assigned rate(s).

Head to this article, click the New employer SUI rates dropdown, scroll to your applicable state and enter a rate from the "New Employer Tax Rates" column.

• Many states have ranges of rates for new employers. While we cannot advise on the rate to choose for the interim, once you’ve updated the rate in Gusto to your company-assigned rate (with the correct effective date), we’ll run a reconciliation payroll to refund or debit for any taxes over or underpaid.

Never enter placeholders for missing (and required) account numbers—this may result in incorrect tax payments and filings that could cause late tax payment penalties and interest—these penalties are the responsibility of the employer to pay. 

Try contacting the applicable agency directly to see if you can receive your account number as soon as possible. 

• Check out this article with some general agency contact info—if your agency isn’t listed, try googling it.

If you need to pay an employee before you have the required tax information, you can do so outside of Gusto, and then enter the missing payroll information when you have the required tax account information.

• You may see penalties or interest for late tax payments or filings—these are the responsibility of the employer to pay.

1. Click the Gusto Home page notification pertaining to the error.
2. Click edit next to the company state field.
3. Update the state account number (if needed) and/or notify Gusto the problem is resolved. If you indicate you resolved the issue without fixing the issue, it may cause additional failed filings—after three failed attempts, you’ll be required to self-file outside of Gusto.
   • If you update the account number: the pending payroll blocker will be removed.
   • If you don’t update the account number but indicate the issue is resolved, you’ll likely need to contact us from the Help section of your account to remove the pending payroll blocker.
4. We’ll attempt to refile your return(s), usually within 2 weeks, but you won’t be notified unless they fail again—no news is good news.
   • Re-filings occur on a varied basis and are processed only after all original filings have been submitted.
   • To confirm a re-filing was a success, you must sign in to your online agency portal or contact the agency directly.
   • Re-filing attempts will not appear as a separate form in your Gusto account (view the original filing if accessible).

A good indicator a refiling was successful is no notifications or payroll blockers after ~14 days since the issue was “resolved” in Gusto.

• Inactive accounts
  • A state withholding and/or unemployment insurance account may be deemed inactive if no returns are filed, zero returns are filed consecutively, or your account is in a future status (meaning it won’t be active until a future date).
  • If your account number has been deemed inactive, discuss reactivation procedures with the agency, as these may vary by state.
• Effective date is incorrect
  • Make sure the effective date is on or prior to the first date of the quarter Gusto tried to file and pay on your behalf for.
• Account number not valid
  • The account number in Gusto may not match the one issued by the state agency.
  • You may have the correct account number, but do not have the correct type of account to file and pay your taxes. 
    • Call the agency to verify your account number and type, then check to make sure this is the number you have entered in your Gusto account—head to the Taxes & compliance section and select Tax setup to review what's entered in Gusto.
  • If you need to update your account number, contact us from the Help section of your account—there may be tax implications we need to help with (like payments to an incorrect account number, etc).
• Company name and filing/mailing address in Gusto does not match agency info.
  • Call the agency to verify what company name and address they have on file and check to see if that matches what you have entered in your Gusto account.
    • Find what’s on record in Gusto by heading to the Company section and clicking Company details.
• The FEIN in Gusto does not match agency info—the account cannot be verified by Gusto.
  • Call the agency to verify the FEIN associated with your account, then check to make sure this is the number you have entered in your Gusto account. 
    • Find what’s on record in Gusto by heading to the Taxes & compliance section and selecting Tax setup. 
  • If you need to update your FEIN, contact us from the Help section of your account—there may be tax implications we need to help with.
• Third Party Authorization (TPA) or Power of Attorney (PoA) has an incorrect effective date.
  • Confirm with the agency that Gusto's TPA has an effective date beginning the first day of the first quarter for which there is a check date in Gusto for the applicable state. 
    • Also, confirm that Gusto has been authorized to file and pay on your behalf.
  • Click the Payroll section and select Payroll history to confirm the first check date for a given employee in a state.
• A previous service provider is still listed as your reporting agent on the account.
  • If a previous provider is still listed as the reporting agent it may override Gusto's attempts to obtain access and successfully file. Work directly with the agency and/or previous provider to remove them from the account.