1. Instant Financial Help Center
  2. Processing Payroll, Off-cycle or Tips

How do I handle exceptions to payroll?

Sometimes when processing payroll you will have exceptions to the pay file.  The most common exceptions are: 

    • Unmapped Payments: payments on your file that Instant couldn’t map automatically to an account  and need a second look
    • Missing Net Pay: Instant accounts who have taken Instant Pay offers for selected pay period or an Instant Pay offer that has carried forward from a previous pay period, but do not have a wage payment to repay their outstanding offers
    • Employee Without Card: employee will need to activate a card on the Instant Account you are trying to pay
  • Duplicate Payment: a payment with the same allocation date and amount is found for the same employee - this may be intentional on your part or an error
  • Blocked Payment: the payment is unable to be processed.  An example would be a $0.00 net pay
  • Net Pay Missing Location: could not find a location to associate with the payment

Exceptions that must be handled prior to processing payroll: 

Unmapped Payments

  • On the left you will find your unmapped net pays from the pay file.  Click on the employee’s name to display the search results on the right. 
    • When you find a match → click Map
    • Can’t find a match → Edit your search field to expand the results. For example: Search ‘John’ instead of ‘John Doe’ and remove the Employee ID
    • Still can’t find a match → click Do Not Process.  This employee is not found in Instant and needs to create an account. The wages are likely already funded to Instant since it was on the pay file; as soon as the employee creates an account you can submit their payment
  • Once all unmapped payments are handled, click Continue to return to the Payroll Exceptions screen

Duplicate Payments

  • Duplicate payments happen when we see the same employee receiving the same payment amount on the same date  
  • If this is intentional, you can choose to mark it as “Process Anyway” so the payment processes. If it is duplicated in error, you can choose “Do Not Process” to remove it
  • Once all duplicate payments are handled, click Continue to get back to the Payroll Exceptions screen

Exceptions that are informational: 

  • Employees Without Card: 
      • The employee will get an automated email from Instant asking them to pair a card to get paid, however it is always a best practice to get in contact with their manager to make sure they pair a card before disbursement  
  • Blocked Payment: 
      • Need to be reviewed and handled accordingly
  • Missing Net Pay:
    • Employees who took Instant Pays but their net pay was not on the pay file.  At the moment they are overpaid. Our best practice is to ensure that the employees' Instant Pays are turned off and that they are paid through Instant until the Instant Pays are recouped. It can also be reconciled outside the Instant System. If that is the case, please clear the outstanding Instant Pays on the ‘Outstanding Instant Pay Report’. Please then send the previously outstanding Instant Pay amount to your Instant Account and Routing number to balance your float and ensure you do not go into overdraft. Please email mgrsupport@instant.co if you need assistance. 
      • Please see the Outstanding Instant Pay FAQ for more information
      • Note: Your float total is reduced by the sum of any unresolved outstanding Instant Pays and this money is then owed to Instant and to your Instant Float

When your payroll has exceptions, your payroll summary will capture all of them after processing. A best practice is to review these exceptions by exporting the summary report.  

Please note: you can leave the payrun to view other reports or the People page.