In order to help catch payroll mistakes before they occur, the Errors tab of the Payroll Register will show you potential issues with the data in the payroll register. There are two types of issues:
Errors are definite problems that prevent moving forward. Action must be taken to correct the issue before you can change the payroll run’s status to “Approved.” Errors are indicated with a red exclamation mark. 
Warnings are potential problems. They can be ignored if necessary, but they must be acknowledged before you can change the payroll run’s status to “Approved.” Warnings are indicated with a yellow exclamation mark. 
Once you have finished adding employees, importing time off and substitute data, entering hourly wages, and making any other adjustments, go to the Error tab and click Validate Payroll Run to see all the flagged issues.
Ignoring Warnings
Fixing Errors and Warnings
Table of All Errors and Warnings
Ignoring Warnings
Warnings occur when data doesn’t conform to typically expected behavior. Often, warnings will point out problems in data configuration, so you’ll want to make changes in response. However, some warnings might be skippable.
For example, warning #46 occurs when there is a large increase (>20%) in net pay compared to the employee’s last net pay in a previous payroll cycle. This warning exists because a significant change in net pay could be an indicator of mistaken data entry. However, some employees do have a natural variation in pay from payroll to payroll.
To ignore the warning, simply check the “Ignore” box next to it. All warnings must be either fixed or ignored before you can create journal entries.
Fixing Errors and Warnings
If the error or warning indicates that there really is a problem with the data, you will need to fix the underlying problem instead of ignoring it. The fix will be different for each error.
Type 1: Large-scale issues
A few pieces of data are validated without checking specific employees, by looking at the payroll run as a whole. They often point out a missed step. Below are a few examples:
|
Number |
Message |
|
33 |
Attendance / Time Off has not been imported |
|
34 |
Substitutes have not been imported |
|
50 |
There are previous payroll runs that are not complete. YTD amounts will not include incomplete payroll runs and will likely be incorrect |
Warnings 33 and 34 occur if you have not used the “Import” button on the Time Off or Substitutes tab. Unless you are doing an extra payroll run to correct a previous mistake, time off and substitutes should almost always be imported. Resolve the warning by using the flagged “Import” button.
Warning 50 recommends that you mark all previous payroll runs as Complete before creating journal entries on the latest payroll run. This ensures the reliability of the Year-To-Date column on pay stubs, since only Complete payroll runs are included in the YTD data.
All three errors can be resolved without changing any employee’s data.
Type 2: Employee-specific issues
Most errors and warnings are related to employee-specific data. These problems may require changes to an employee setting, a position setting, or a payroll item setting.
Each of these errors/warnings has four tools, which you can access by clicking the down arrow in the rightmost column:
- Refresh Employee: After changing data, use this to reload the employee’s data and make sure any changes have been implemented in the payroll run. The effect is similar to removing and re-adding the employee, but it preserves data such as hours worked and most overwritten payroll items. It also runs the re-validation tool below to check if the problem has been resolved.
- Enter Employee Payroll: Open a new window that shows the employee’s full payroll details, including every payroll item. Use this option to review the employee’s current payroll register data and temporarily override payroll item amounts.
- Goto Employee Single View: Open the employee’s Employee - Single View page in a new tab. Use this option to make changes to an employee’s payroll data that will take effect in this and future payroll runs (e.g. edit/add payroll items, add W-4s).
- Re-Validate: When your fix involves a change that is immediately visible on the payroll, re-validate to see if the error/warning is still applicable. Some fixes (e.g. adding a new W-4) may require that you “Refresh Employee” instead.
Because each situation is unique, we will use several common errors as examples to demonstrate possible solutions.
10 No federal W4 found
If this message occurs, you should add a federal W-4 to the employee. The quickest way to do so would be:
- Click the down arrow next to the warning and select Goto Employee Single View
- Go the Payroll tab
- Click the Withholding view in the upper-right corner of the tab
- Submit New W-4
- Enter the details
- Save
- Close the tab
- In the original tab, click the down arrow next to the warning and select Refresh Employee
- Re-Validate does not work here because the W-4 is an employee setting, more complex than pushing a small update to a single payroll item.
- The warning will disappear.
25 Amount doesn't have value
This message occurs when a payroll item using the “Simple Amount” algorithm has a $0.00 value.
If the payroll item is no longer being used, you should make it inactive for future pay periods:
- Click the down arrow next to the warning and select Goto Employee Single View
- Go to the Payroll tab
- Edit the payroll item
- Set the Pay Period Group to “Use Custom Pay Periods”
- Uncheck the current and future pay periods
- Save
- Close the tab
- In the original tab, click the down arrow next to the warning and select Refresh Employee
- Re-Validate does not work here because the payroll item has not actually been removed from the payroll register yet.
- The warning will disappear
If the payroll item should have an amount, you most likely want to edit the payroll item on the Employee - Single View page so it will have that in every payroll run going forward:
- Click the down arrow next to the warning and select Goto Employee Single View
- Go to the Payroll tab
- Edit the payroll item
- Enter an amount
- Save
- Close the tab
- In the original tab, click the down arrow next to the warning and select Re-Validate or Refresh Employee
- Re-Validate works here because the payroll item’s edited amount was pushed down to the current payroll run.
- The warning will disappear
If the payroll run should have a unique amount that should not be set as a default for future payroll runs, you can also override the $0.00 amount.
- Click the down arrow next to the warning and select Enter Employee Payroll
- Override the $0.00 payroll item with a new amount
- Close the Enter Employee Portal window
- The warning will disappear
45 Position is contributing to subtotals but has no payroll items that utilizes them. Unused subtotals: FICA
This warning occurs when an employee’s position has payroll items that affect the FICA subtotal, but the employee’s position does not have any FICA withholding or employer taxes.
- Click the down arrow next to the warning and select Goto Employee Single View
- If the position should have FICA payroll items, click Add Payroll Item to add the FICA withholding and FICA employer taxes.
- If the position should not have any FICA payroll items, identify the payroll items that have either a + or - in the FICA subtotal column. Edit these payroll items and change their FICA subtotal contribution to “Does Not Contribute.”
- Save
- Close the tab
- In the original tab, click the down arrow and select Re-Validate or Refresh Employee
- Re-Validate works here because the payroll item’s edited subtotal setting was pushed down to the current payroll run.
- The warning will disappear
62 Payroll Journal entries will use accounts that are not in the Chart of Accounts
When creating payroll journal entries, most payroll items use placeholder dimensions so that data is inherited from the payroll account breakdown (more information). This can result in the system trying to create journal entries for an expenditure account that has not been entered in your chart of accounts.
To identify the expenditure account that is causing this warning:
- Click the down arrow next to the warning
- Enter Employee Payroll
- Click the (?) icon next to the payroll item that is causing the warning to open the Calculation Details window
- At the bottom of the Calculation Details window, look for the Resulting Dimensions. The lower-left hand “Dimensions” box displays the expenditure account that is not in the chart of accounts.
Once you have identified that account that is causing the problem, there are three possible ways to resolve the issue:
- Ignore the warning and let the system create a payroll journal entry in that account.
- Add the account to the chart of accounts, then re-validate.
- Edit the employee’s payroll account breakdown and/or payroll item accounts so that a different account will be used, then refresh the employee.
Table of all errors and warnings
Below is a table that shows all errors, along with a brief explanation.
| Type | Number | Message | Conditions |
| Error | 1 | Salary doesn't have value | The calculated salary for a salary payroll item is either null or 0 |
| Error | 2 | Salary Percent doesn't have value | The calculated salary percent for a salary payroll item is either null or 0 |
| Error | 3 | Time off tracking mode is not set | The snapshotted 'EmployeeAttendanceByHour' value for a Payroll Run Employee is null and the payroll item has the 'EmployeeTimeOff' algorithm |
| Warning | 5 | {0} subtotal has no contributors | The payroll item has a subtotal based algorithm, and the subtotal amount is 0 or null |
| Warning | 6 | {0} subtotal has no YTD contributors | The payroll item has a subtotal based algorithm, the algorithm uses YTD subtotals, and the YTD subtotal amount is 0 or null |
| Error | 7 | Simple Percentage not found for {0} in {1} | For a payroll item with the "SimplePercentage" algorithm, a simple percentage row was unable to be found for the PayrollItemTypeID on the payroll item |
| Error | 8 | Tax table not found for {0} in {1} | For a payroll item with a tax table based algorithm, a tax table was unable to be found. The way a tax table is queried depends on the algorithm |
| Error | 9 | Allowance not found for {0} in {1} | For a payroll item with the Percentage Method Tax Table algorithm, a federal withholding allowance row was unable to be found. This is only checked if the payroll run was in a year before 2020 or if the supplied W4 is from before 2020 |
| Warning | 10 | No federal W4 found | Payroll item has the Medicare Tax Tables or Percentage Method Tax Tables algorithm and a federal W4 was not able to be snapshotted for the employee |
| Warning | 11 | No state W4 found | Payroll item has the state income tax withholding algorithm and a state W4 was not able to be snapshotted for the employee |
| Error | 12 | Couldn't find Missouri Tax Tables for {0} | Payroll item has the State income tax withholding algorithm, the state is missouri and a tax table was unable to be found. Only checked if the employee isn't claiming an exemption or reduced withholding on their state W4 |
| Error | 13 | Couldn't find Standard Deduction for the '{0}' filing status | Payroll item has the State income tax withholding algorithm, the state is missouri and a missouri standard deduction was unable to be found. Only checked if the employee isn't claiming an exemption or reduced withholding on their state W4 |
| Error | 14 | Couldn't find Medicare Tax Table for {0} | Payroll item has the Medicare Tax Tables algorithm and a medicare tax table was unable to be found |
| Error | 15 | {0} contribution rates couldn't be found for {1} employees in {2} | Payroll Item has the TRS or IMRF algorithm, employee is enrolled in the appropriate retirement plan and a contribution constant row was unable to be queried |
| Error | 16 | {0} contribution rate couldn't be found | Payroll item has the TRS or IMRF algorithm, employee is enrolled in the appropriate retirement plan, a contribution constant was queried but due to configuration a contribution rate wasn't found. Only triggered if the payroll item type was not TRS or IMRF employer and the payroll item isn't configured for the 'district paid' edge case. |
| Error | 17 | Employer {0} contribution rate couldn't be found. Please set a contribution rate for {1} | Payroll item has the TRS or IMRF algorithm, employee is enrolled in the appropriate retirement plan, a contribution constant was queried but due to configuration a contribution rate wasn't found. Only triggered if the payroll item type is TRS or IMRF employer or the payroll item is configured for the 'district paid' edge case. |
| Error | 18 | Employer {0} contribution rate isn't less than or equal to 100% | Payroll item has the TRS or IMRF algorithm, the payroll item is configured for the 'district paid' edge case but the contribution rate is greater than 1 |
| Error | 19 | Conflicting values found for employee {0} contribution rate. Contribution rates found: {1} | Payroll item has the TRS or IMRF algorithm, any of the employee's trs/imrf items are configured for the 'district paid' edge case and multiple different employer contribution rates are found |
| Error | 20 | Position does not have work calendar assigned | For non-substitute position types, triggered if the position does not have a work calendar assigned |
| Error | 21 | Position contains a payroll item of type Unknown | Position contains a payroll item with the "unknown" payroll item type |
| Error | 22 | Position contains a payroll item with an Unknown calculation step | Position contains a payroll item with the "unknown" payroll algorithm |
| Error | 23 | Position contains a payroll item with an Unknown algorithm | Position contains a payroll item with the "unknown" payroll calculation step |
| Error | 24 | Hourly rate doesn't have value | For a payroll item with the "Hourly" algorithm, triggered if a hourly rate was unable to be found and hours worked have been entered |
| Warning | 25 | Amount doesn't have value | For a payroll item with the "Simple Amount" algorithm, triggered if the simple amount is 0 or null |
| Error | 26 | Wage Base doesn't have value | For a payroll item with the "District Percentage" algorithm, triggered if the wagebase is 0 or null |
| Error | 27 | Percentage doesn't have value | For a payroll item with the "District Percentage" algorithm, triggered if the percentage is 0 or null |
| Error | 28 | Subtotal type not set | For a payroll item with a subtotal based algorithm, triggered if the PayrollPaySubtotalTypeID on the item is null |
| Error | 29 | Account is missing: {0} | Based on the dimension configuration of the district, triggered if any of the entries for a payroll item are missing a required dimension type. Not checked for payroll items with a calculated amount of null or 0 |
| Error | 30 | Missing vendor | For a payroll item with a payroll item type that allows vendors, triggered if the payroll item doesn't have an assigned vendor |
| Error | 31 | {0} needs to be one of the following types: {1} | Triggered if the payroll item has a function (or object for MO) with an incorrect type for the calculation step. Not checked for payroll items with a calculated amount of null or 0 |
| Error | 32 | {0} needs to be one of the following types: {1} | Triggered if the payroll item has a balancing function (or balancing object for MO) with an incorrect type for the calculation step. Not checked for payroll items with a calculated amount of null or 0 |
| Warning | 33 | Attendance / Time Off has not been imported | Triggered if time off hasn't been imported for a particular pay period. This is based on whether or not the user *tried* to import time off, and won't be triggered for pay periods where the user tried to import time off but no time off was found |
| Warning | 34 | Substitutes have not been imported | Triggered if substitutes haven't been imported for a particular pay period. This is based on whether or not the user *tried* to import substitutes, and won't be triggered for pay periods where the user tried to import substitutes but none were found |
| Warning | 35 | Pay period group's salary percentage is greater than or less than 100% | For a salary payroll item, sum the salary percents of the pay periods for that payroll item. Triggered if the sum does not equal 100 with a tolerance of 0.00001 |
| Warning | 36 | No FIT payroll item found | Triggered if a position has no payroll items with the "Federal Income Tax Withholding" payroll item type |
| Warning | 37 | No SIT payroll item found | Triggered if a position has no payroll items with the "State Income Tax Withholding" payroll item type |
| Warning | 38 | No Medicare payroll item found | Triggered if a position has no payroll items with either the "Medicare (employee)" or "Medicare (employer)" payroll item types |
| Warning | 39 | Payroll item is not configured to reduce taxable pay | Triggered for a payroll item that is in the "Pretax Deductions" calculation step and isn't configured to reduce the taxable pay subtotal |
| Warning | 40 | Position has the TRS retirement plan but makes no contributions | Triggered if a position has the TRS retirement plan, the associated employee is enrolled in TRS but is not retired, and none of the position's payroll items are configured to contribute to the TRS subtotal |
| Warning | 41 | Employee is enrolled in PEERS but position makes no contribution | Triggered if a position's associated employee is enrolled in PEERS, the position was not retired from PEERS in the payroll run and none of the position's payroll items are configured to contribute to the PEERS subtotal |
| Warning | 42 | Employee is enrolled in PSRS but position makes no contribution | Triggered if a position's associated employee is enrolled in PSRS, the position was not retired from PSRS in the payroll run and none of the position's payroll items are configured to contribute to the PSRS subtotal |
| Warning | 43 | {0} is deducting from taxable pay | Triggered for a payroll item with the "IMRF Voluntary Contribution" payroll item type if that payroll item is configured to reduce taxable pay |
| Warning | 44 | IMRF Voluntary Contributions ({0}) are greater than 10% of creditable IMRF wages | Triggered if a position as payroll items with the "IMRF Voluntary Contribution" payroll item type and the sum of the IMRF voluntary contributions is greater than 10% of the position's imrf creditable earnings |
| Warning | 45 | Position is contributing to subtotals but has no payroll items that utilizes them. Unused subtotals: {0} | Triggered if a position has payroll items that are contributing to a configurable subtotal, but none of the position's items are configured to use that particular subtotal |
| Warning | 46 | Large increase in net pay. Previous Net Pay: {0}, Current Net Pay: {1} | Triggered if the net pay for an employee is over 20% more than that employee's previous net pay |
| Warning | 47 | {0} is not configured to reduce SUTA | Triggered if a payroll item has the "Section 125 Plan" box checked but is not configured to reduce the SUTA subtotal |
| Warning | 48 | Medicare and Employer Medicare values do not match in the following pay periods: {0} | Triggered for an employee if the sum of the "Medicare (employee)" payroll items does not match the sum of the "Medicare (employer)" payroll items |
| Warning | 49 | Overriding FICA or Medicare will result in discrepancies on tax forms like 941. If the value calculated is not correct please check that the FICA or Medicare subtotal is correct instead of overriding the withheld amount. | Triggered if a payroll item has been overridden by the user and has one of the following Payroll Item Types: FICA (employee), FICA (employer), Medicare (employee), Medicare (employer) |
| Warning | 50 | There are previous payroll runs that are not complete. YTD amounts will not include incomplete payroll runs and will likely be incorrect. | Triggered if a previous payroll run has a payroll run status other than "Complete". This does not take into account payroll runs that occurred before July 1st 2020 |
| Error | 51 | Creditable Earnings could not be calculated. This could be caused by misconfigured contribution rates on {0} payroll items | This can be triggered for TRS or IMRF payroll items if the associated position has any payroll items in the "District Paid" edge case. This might be caused by a missing employer contribution rate, an employer contribution rate that is greater than 1, or if multiple different employer contribution rates were found. |
| Error | 52 | {0} items must have a {1} and a balancing {1} | Triggered if a payroll item is in one of the following calculation steps and doesn't have a function/balancing function: Posttax Deductions, Pretax Deductions, Withholding |
| Error | 53 | Same account on debit and credit | Triggered if a payroll item has any entries where all of the dimensions on the lead and balancing side are the same. Entries with a 0 amount are not checked |
| Warning | 54 | Position has the IMRF retirement plan but makes no contributions | Triggered if a position is enrolled in IMRF, uses the IMRF retirement type and has no payroll items that contribute to the IMRF subtotal. Positions that were retired from IMRF are not checked |
| Warning | 55 | Position has the {0} retirement plan but makes no contributions | Triggered if a position has no payroll items that contribute to the FICA subtotal and has a FICA retirement plan (either IMRF/FICA or FICA only). Positions that were retired from IMRF and have the IMRF/FICA retirement plan are not checked. |
| Warning | 56 | Position has multiple copies of the following Medicare payroll items: {0} | Triggered if a position has multiple medicare payroll items for the same medicare DPI |
| Warning | 57 | Employee has multiple Medicare items with the same payroll item type: {0} | Triggered if an employee's positions have multiple medicare payroll items with the same payroll item type, but those items map to different medicare DPIs. |
| Warning | 58 | Position has multiple copies of the following FICA payroll items: {0} | Triggered if a position has multiple FICA payroll items for the same FICA DPI |
| Warning | 59 | Employee has multiple FICA items with the same payroll item type: {0} | Triggered if an employee's positions have multiple FICA payroll items with the same payroll item type, but those items map to different FICA DPIs. |
| Warning | 60 | Position Payroll Account Breakdown is missing | Triggered if a position's breakdown has any entries that are comprised entirely of placeholder dimensions |
| Error | 61 | Position has no payroll items | Triggered if a position has no payroll items at all. |
| Warning | 62 | Payroll Journal entries will use accounts that are not in the Chart of Accounts | Triggered if any of a payroll item's entries dimension sets (leading or balancing) are not in the COA. Dimension sets with a liability account type are not checked. Not checked if the district isn't restricting transactions to COA. |
| Error | 63 | Employee was not able to be calculated successfully | Triggered if a hard error was encountered while payroll was being calculated for an employee |
| Warning | 64 | Position has retirement items without the appropriate retirement enrollments: {0} | Triggered if a position has a TRS/IMRF/PEERS/PSRS payroll item but isn't configured for that retirement plan |
| Error | 65 | Employee has negative net pay: {0} | Triggered if an employee's net pay is less than 0 |
| Error | 66 | Accounts will not balance, check payroll item configuration. | Triggered if the summary of an employee's payroll item entries does not equal their net pay |
| Warning | 67 | Position lacks a wage item | Triggered if a position doesn't have any wage payroll items |
|
Error |
68 |
Employee has a Health Savings Account Payroll Item but no Health Savings Account. |
Triggered if an employee has a Health Savings Account Payroll Item but no Health Savings Account. |
|
Warning |
69 |
Employee has a Health Savings Account but no Health Savings Account Payroll Item |
Triggered if an employee has a Health Savings Account but no Health Savings Account Payroll Item. |
|
Error |
70 |
403(b) plan {0} limit of {1} has been exceeded by {2} |
Triggered if an employee appears to have exceeded their annual 403(b) limit. |
|
Warning |
71 |
Employee enrolled in a 403(b) retirement plan but makes no contributions. |
Triggered if an employee is enrolled in a 403(b) retirement plan but makes no contributions. |
|
Error |
72 |
Employees contributions to a 403(b) retirement plan do not match their enrollment. {0} |
Triggered if an employee’s 403(b) payroll items use an item type for a catch-up plan that the employee is not enrolled in. |
|
Warning |
73 |
Employee not currently enrolled in a 403(b) retirement plan but was enrolled previously. |
Triggered if an employee is no longer enrolled in a 403(b) retirement plan. |
|
Error |
74 |
457(b) plan {0} limit of {1} has been exceeded by {2} |
Triggered if an employee appears to have exceeded their annual 457(b) limit. |
|
Warning |
75 |
Employee enrolled in a 457(b) retirement plan but makes no contributions. |
Triggered if an employee is enrolled in a 457(b) retirement plan but makes no contributions. |
|
Error |
76 |
Employees contributions to a 457(b) retirement plan do not match their enrollment. {0} |
Triggered if an employee’s 457(b) payroll items use an item type for a catch-up plan that the employee is not enrolled in. |
|
Warning |
77 |
Employee not currently enrolled in a 457(b) retirement plan but was enrolled previously. |
Triggered if an employee is no longer enrolled in a 457(b) retirement plan. |
|
Error |
78 |
IMRF Adjustment Reason must be selected |
Triggered if the payroll run is marked as an Adjustment, the employee has an IMRF (employee) payroll item, and no Adjustment Reason is selected from the Enter Employee Payroll window. |