Troubleshoot tax account, filing, and payment issues

If you do not 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 state requiring information. 

If your company is not yet liable for state unemployment taxes, or you have not received your rate(s) yet, enter the new employer rate for your state in Gusto in the meantime—update the rate once you receive it.

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 agency directly to see if you can receive your account number as soon as possible. 

• Here is some general agency contact info—if your agency is not listed, try Googling it.
• If you edit a tax account number after payments or filings have already been made, there may be tax implications. Learn how to pull reports in Gusto that can help you correct any historical tax issues related to tax account number updates.

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.

“Hi this is (your name) from (your company name) and our FEIN is XX-XXXXXXX. My payroll provider Gusto, formerly ZenPayroll, received an error message when attempting to file on my behalf—I would like to resolve this as soon as possible. I've got a few things I'd like to check to make sure the next time they file it’s successful:"

1. Make sure the account is "active".
   • If your state account is inactive due to no longer processing payroll in that state, close your account with the agency and let Gusto know.
2. Review the "effective date" on the account.
   • This should be the beginning of the first quarter when you have a check date in Gusto for that specific state.
3. Confirm your account number matches what is listed in Gusto.
   • Find what’s on record in Gusto in the Taxes & Compliance section by clicking Tax setup and scrolling to the applicable state headline.
   • If you edit a tax account number after payments or filings have already been made, there may be tax implications. Learn how to pull reports in Gusto that can help you correct any historical tax issues related to tax account number updates.
4. Confirm your company name and filing/mailing address in Gusto matches what the agency has on file.
   • Find what’s on record in Gusto by clicking the Settings section and toggling to Company details.
5. Make sure the FEIN on file with the agency is what Gusto has on record, so the account can be verified.
   • Find what’s on record in Gusto in the Taxes & Compliance section by clicking Tax setup.
6. If required, make sure that Gusto has Third Party Authorization (TPA) or Power of Attorney (PoA)—the effective date should be on or prior to the first date of the quarter(s) in question.
   • In the state tax registration section of the Help Center, go to the applicable state article and check for state and agency-specific TPA info.
7. Make sure a previous service provider isn't 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.