Error Code

Reason

How to Resolve

CMN.ATO.GEN.200012

The Withholding Payer Number failed the ATO's checksum validation. Usually the payer is registered with an ABN, but a WPN was supplied (or the digits are transposed/incomplete).

Please check the number in ATO Settings, and confirm whether your business should lodge with an ABN instead. Please get in touch with Payroo support at support@payroo.com.au. Once the issue has been resolved, return to the pay run, revert the failed pay run, republish and refile.

Error Code

Reason

How to Resolve

CMN.ATO.GEN.500164

The Withholding Payer Number failed the ATO's checksum validation at the payload validation layer. Same root cause as CMN.ATO.GEN.200012 — the WPN is not a structurally valid number for this payer.

Please check the number in ATO Settings, and confirm whether your business should lodge with an ABN instead. Please get in touch with Payroo support at support@payroo.com.au. Once the issue has been resolved, return to the pay run, revert the failed pay run, republish and refile.

Error Code

Reason

How to Resolve

CMN.ATO.GEN.ILLFORMEDDOCUMENT

The payload was not well-formed XML, so it was rejected before any business validation. Usually an unescaped or illegal control character reaching a text field, or a truncated upload — not a payroll data problem as such.

Please get in touch with Payroo support at support@payroo.com.au. Once the issue has been resolved, return to the pay run, revert the failed pay run, republish and refile.

Error Code

Reason

How to Resolve

CMN.ATO.GEN.XML03

Address: The address is blank or contains unsupported characters, such as a Unicode dash (– or —).

Ensure the address is not blank. Replace any special characters or Unicode dashes with a standard hyphen (-), then save the record, revert and resubmit the STP.

CMN.ATO.GEN.XML03

Phone Number: The phone number is entered with a country code (+61), spaces, or other special characters.

Enter the phone number using digits only (for example, 0412345678). Remove +61, spaces, and other symbols before submitting the STP.

CMN.ATO.GEN.XML03

Branch Number: The branch number contains leading zeros (for example, 001, 002, 007).

Enter the branch number without leading zeros. For example, use 1 instead of 001.

CMN.ATO.GEN.XML03

Pay Amount: A payroll amount contains more than two decimal places(value = "3769.230769230769")

Ensure all pay values are rounded to 2 decimal places(value ="3769.23") before submitting the STP. Please get in touch with Payroo support at support@payroo.com.au.

CMN.ATO.GEN.XML03

Allowance Notes: Description/Notes under allowance in payrun contain unsupported special characters, such as + or %.
​

Update the description added for Allowance in the pay run to use only letters and numbers.

Remove any special characters from the Description.

Once updated, revert the payrun, republish and refile the STP.

CMN.ATO.GEN.XML03

Employee First Name: The first name contains unsupported punctuation or special characters.

Remove unsupported characters (such as apostrophe, backtick or other punctuation) and only use letters for updating names. Save the employee record before re-submitting the STP.

CMN.ATO.GEN.XML03

Employee Last Name: The surname contains accented or non-ASCII characters (for example, Schön).

Replace accented characters with standard English letters where appropriate (for example, Schon) and revert the failed pay run and refile the STP.

Error Code

Reason

How to Resolve

CMN.ATO.PAYEVNT.EM14160

The replacement matched more than one prior submission, so the ATO cannot tell which to supersede. Normally caused by duplicate submission IDs previously lodged for the same payer and period.

Please get in touch with Payroo support at support@payroo.com.au. Once the issue has been resolved, return to the pay run screen, revert the failed pay run, republish and refile.

Error Code

Reason

How to Resolve

CMN.ATO.PAYEVNT.EM41432

We were unable to process your submission because the file you wanted to replace has already been replaced. The submission being replaced has already been superseded by a later replacement. Replacements must target the current version, so replacing a stale one is rejected. Usually caused by a duplicate or retried replace.

Please get in touch with Payroo support at support@payroo.com.au. Once the issue has been resolved, return to the pay run screen, revert the failed pay run, republish and refile.

Error Code

Reason

How to Resolve

CMN.ATO.PAYEVNT.EM41469

A replacement was lodged for a submission the ATO cannot find. Typically the original never reached the ATO (so there is nothing to replace). Lodge as a new submission rather than a replacement.

Revert the failed pay run to Unpublished status, re-publish and re-file to ATO.

Error Code

Reason

How to Resolve

CMN.ATO.PAYEVNT.EM41551

The BMS ID on the submission does not match the one the ATO holds for this payer.

Please get in touch with Payroo support at support@payroo.com.au. Once the issue has been resolved, return to the pay run screen, revert the failed pay run, republish and refile.

Error Code

Reason

How to Resolve

CMN.ATO.PAYEVNT.EM92166

The branch number does not match a branch registered against this ABN. Either the payer has no branches (in which case the branch code should be blank or 1) or the wrong branch number is configured.

Go to Settings > Under General > edit Branch ID and Save.

Once the issue has been resolved, return to the pay run screen, revert the failed pay run, republish and refile.

Error Code

Reason

How to Resolve

CMN.ATO.PAYEVNT.EM92169

The submission being updated relates to a period more than 5 years old, which is outside the window the ATO will accept amendments for. Corrections this old must be handled outside STP.

You can directly contact the ATO to make a correction.

Error Code

Reason

How to Resolve

CMN.ATO.PAYEVNT.EM92172

A submission with this submission ID already exists. The submission ID must be unique per lodgement; this is the classic signature of a retry that re-sent an already-accepted payload. This error occurs when a transmission glitch makes the system attempt to lodge the exact same pay run twice. The ATO rejects the second attempt to prevent duplicate data.

Please get in touch with Payroo support at support@payroo.com.au

Error Code

Reason

How to Resolve

CMN.ATO.PAYEVNT.EM98452

The ABN is not active in the Australian Business Register at the time of lodgement. The business has cancelled the ABN, or it was reinstated after the pay date. Nothing can be filed until the ABN is active again.

Please check your ABN status on the Australian Business Register and ensure it's currently active before submitting STP files to the ATO. Once the issue has been resolved, return to the pay run screen, revert the failed pay run, republish and refile.
​You can easily check ABN status here

Error Code

Reason

How to Resolve

CMN.ATO.PAYEVNT.EM99507

This error occurs when the Previous BMS ID entered during the BMS transition does not match the ATO's records. This may be because the ID is incorrect or the previous payroll system did not lodge STP using that BMS ID.

Verify that the Previous BMS ID entered is correct. If unsure, check the BMS ID with your previous payroll software provider and update the correct BMS ID and resubmit the STP event.

Error Code

Reason

How to Resolve

CMN.ATO.PAYEVNTEMP.000034

An Australian address was reported with a postcode outside the valid 0200–9999 range — usually blank, zero-padded incorrectly, or an overseas address flagged as Australian.

Correct the postcode in the employee or business address.

Once the issue has been resolved, return to the pay run screen, revert the failed pay run, republish and refile.

Error Code

Reason

How to Resolve

CMN.ATO.PAYEVNTEMP.000253

The Tax Treatment Code does not begin with a recognised two-character prefix. This code encodes the payee tax scale, so an unrecognised prefix means the employee tax setup maps to a combination the ATO does not define.

This employee's tax settings form a combination the ATO doesn't recognise. Please review the affected employee's tax declaration, including residency, tax-free threshold and study loan options. If the issue still persists, please contact support at support@payroo.com.au Once the issue has been resolved, return to the pay run screen, revert the failed payrun, republish and refile.

Error Code

Reason

How to Resolve

CMN.ATO.PAYEVNTEMP.000271

The employee commencement date is implausible — before 1/1/1950 and not the 1/1/1800 "unknown" sentinel. Typically an empty or malformed date defaulting to epoch/zero.

This employee's start date is missing or invalid. Please enter a start date on or after 1 January 1950. Once the issue has been resolved, return to the pay run screen, revert the failed payrun, republish and refile.

Error Code

Reason

How to Resolve

CMN.ATO.PAYEVNTEMP.000277

Employment Basis Code N (non-employee) was reported alongside data only valid for employees. For non-employees, the ATO permits no income stream or RFBA tuples, and requires a Super Entitlement of type L.

This employee is set to non-employee, so earnings and fringe benefits can't be reported for them. Please check and change their employment basis.

Once the issue has been resolved, return to the pay run screen, revert the failed pay run, republish and refile.

Error Code

Reason

How to Resolve

CMN.ATO.PAYEVNTEMP.000282

The employee cessation date precedes their commencement date. Usually a data-entry inversion or a termination recorded against the wrong employment record.

This employee's end date is before their start date. Please correct the dates on their employment record. Once the issue has been resolved, return to the pay run screen, revert the failed pay run, republish and refile.

Error Code

Reason

How to Resolve

CMN.ATO.PAYEVNTEMP.000358

A foreign income stream type (FEI, WHM or IAA) was reported without a Country Code. The ATO requires the country for these stream types so foreign income is attributed correctly.

The affected employee has a foreign income type maintained, so the ATO requires their country code. Please add a country to their record.

Once the issue has been resolved, return to the pay run screen, revert the failed pay run, republish and refile.

Error Code

Reason

How to Resolve

CMN.ATO.PAYEVNTEMP.000364

Deduction items were reported without any income stream. Deductions must attach to an income stream, hence a payee with deductions but no earnings collection is rejected.

Please check the affected employee's payments and remove the deductions or include their pay. Once the issue has been resolved, return to the pay run screen, revert the failed payrun, republish and refile.

Error Code

Reason

How to Resolve

CMN.ATO.PAYEVNTEMP.000389

Negative year-to-date values summed to a gross YTD below zero. STP reports cumulative YTD figures, which cannot go negative — usually caused by a reversal or adjustment larger than the amount originally reported.

This employee's year-to-date totals have gone below zero because an adjustment is larger than the amount originally reported. Please review recent changes to their pay. Once the issue has been resolved, return to the pay run screen, revert the failed payrun, republish and refile.

Error Code

Reason

How to Resolve

SBR.GEN.FAULT.AGENCYNOTRESPONDING

Transient: SBR Core Services reached the ATO but the ATO did not respond in time. The submission was not processed and is safe to retry later.

This is usually a temporary ATO/SBR service issue. Wait a few minutes and revert the payrun and refile the payrun.

Error Code

Reason

How to Resolve

SBR.GEN.FAULT.GENERALERRORINCORE

Transient: an unhandled error inside SBR Core Services, before the ATO was reached. Not caused by the submission content; retry, and escalate to the agency service desk if it persists.

This is usually a temporary ATO/SBR service issue. Wait a few minutes and revert the payrun and refile the payrun.

Error Code

Reason

How to Resolve

SBR.GEN.FAULT.SERVICEACTIONDENIED

The action was refused at the SBR layer — either the ATO is having technical issues, or the sending software is not self-certified/registered for this service. Persistent occurrences point at the software registration, not the payload.

This is usually a temporary ATO/SBR service issue. Wait a few minutes and revert the payrun and refile the payrun. If issue still persists, please contact Payroo support at support@payroo.com.au Wait for sometime, return to the pay run screen, revert the failed payrun and republish and refile.

Error Code

Reason

How to Resolve

CMN.ATO.AUTH.008

You aren't authorised to lodge for this business. Please check that your agent authorisation with the ATO covers Single Touch Payroll.

Before lodging STP, ensure that the client has authorised your practice and is linked to your practice in ATO Online Services for Agents. The ATO will not accept STP lodgments from a registered Tax or BAS Agent unless the agent is linked to the client in ATO systems. Check this article for more info.