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My STP lodgement was rejected

A rejection isn't final — the ATO is telling you something in the submission needs correcting. Fix the detail it points at and lodge again.

What the status means

On the Pay Runs list (and on the pay run itself) a rejected lodgement shows one of two badges:

  • Failed — the ATO rejected the submission.
  • Needs attention — the ATO accepted the submission for some employees but rejected others. Open the pay run to see who.

Step 1. Read the errors

Open the pay run. Rejections appear in a red ATO Submission Errors box, with a table listing each problem: the Severity (Error or Warning), the Employee it relates to (blank when it's about the business as a whole), the ATO's Error Code, and a plain Description. Rows marked Error caused the rejection; Warning rows are worth fixing but didn't block acceptance. Informational messages from the ATO are tucked away under Show informational messages.

Step 2. Check the suggested fix

Below the errors table, myaccountant analyses each error and suggests a fix. Each amber card shows the error code, which employees are affected, the likely cause and what to do about it, with a confidence rating.

  • If the fix is something myaccountant can make for you, the card has an Apply fix button. Click it and the change is made to the relevant record; the card then reads "Fix applied. Re-lodge the pay run when you're ready." It's worth opening the record afterwards to confirm the new value is what you expect.
  • Dismiss hides a card if the suggestion doesn't apply — it won't come back.
  • Occasionally a card shows Diagnosis unavailable — you'll still get the plain error description to work from.

The suggestion is a starting point, not a verdict — the errors table above is always the complete picture.

Step 3. Fix the details yourself

Most STP rejections are about identifying details rather than dollar amounts:

  • Employee details — open the employee under Payroll → Employees and check the tab the error points at: Employment (start date, income type, country of income), Tax (TFN or TFN exemption, tax category) or Superannuation (fund ABN, USI).
  • Business details — go to Settings → Business and check the ABN/branch, contact details and address.

Step 4. Lodge again

How you re-lodge depends on the badge:

  • Failed, and only details were wrong — the figures didn't reach the ATO, so once the details are corrected, click Submit to ATO on the pay run and complete the declaration again.
  • Failed, and the figures need changing too — click Edit and confirm putting the pay run back to Draft. Correct the pay, Finalise it again, then submit.
  • Needs attention — the accepted employees don't need re-sending. Click Send Update: the declaration pre-selects the employees the ATO rejected ("Pre-selected: previously rejected employees only"), and you can tick others if you want their year-to-date figures re-sent too.

After lodging, the status shows Lodging while the app checks with the ATO automatically. If automatic checking stops before the ATO has answered, use the Check ATO Status button.

If you need to correct a pay run the ATO has already Accepted, that's a different flow — Edit & Send Update, covered in How do I lodge STP?

Still rejected?

If the same error comes back after a genuine fix, note the Error Code from the ATO Submission Errors table and contact support with the code and the pay run's period — the code pinpoints exactly which field the ATO is objecting to.

Understand the concepts (Academy):

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