Quarter End Playbook
Navigate quarter-end successfully with this comprehensive playbook for payroll providers.
The Quarter End Playbook is your guide to navigating a successful quarter end with Check. Quarter-end is the process of balancing, filing, and remitting taxes during the filing month—the month after a quarter closes (e.g., April, July, October, January), when all quarterly agency deadlines occur.
As a payroll provider, your customers rely on you for a smooth filing season. The information below outlines the expectations, resources, and communications you'll need to best serve your customers.
- Quarter End starts well before filings are due—use the Quarter End Preparation Guide to stay ahead and reduce missing requirements.
- Year End includes annual reconciliations and the creation of W-2s, 1099s, and other annual filings. These follow a separate timeline that extends into February and does not overlap with quarter end processing. For details on Year End, see the Year End Playbook.
What’s new for Q4 2025
This is our first major step toward reinventing Quarter End for 2026. We’d love your feedback—share it in Quarter End retros so we can make the next release even better.
- Earlier visibility into anticipated filing failures - Proactively understand where Check intends to file and which returns are likely to encounter blockers before filings begin.
- Greater control over variance collections and refunds - Access clearer insights and improved tools for reviewing, communicating, and managing variance-related transactions through balancing payrolls.
- Employer draft copies for all companies—even if filings are blocked - Draft copies will be published for every employer, with a significantly updated structure and visual format. These are for employer records only and will always be updated to match what we ultimately file.
- No blocking period for void submissions, approvals, or corrections - Check will no longer pause these actions during the filing month.
- Automated refiles without support requests - When employers resolve a blocked filing reason caused by missing identifiers or an outstanding failed debit, Check will automatically attempt refiles during the filing month, reducing back-and-forth and accelerating resolution.
Key Filing Month Events
Day | Q4 2025 | Event |
1st business day | Jan 2, 2026 | All outstanding employer requirements must be submitted by this day to guarantee on time filing and payment |
2nd business day | Jan 5, 2026 | Balancing payrolls are approved and the associated funding transaction is scheduled for 3 business days later (variance collection or refund) |
5th business day | Jan 8, 2026 | Variance collection and refund transactions are processed |
7th business day | Jan 12, 2026 | Draft employer copies of Q4 Quarter End* tax returns are published
*note this does not include Year End documents |
15th of the month | Jan 15, 2026 | Early filing deadlines begin and vary by state |
☑️ Key Partner Actions
During a filing month, Check advises that our partner teams either automate employer notification or perform daily review and communication of the following reports:
- Review scheduled collections and refunds → Review the Quarterly Variance Report in Console daily to get ahead of needed communication before transactions are processed. The majority of transactions will be scheduled on the 2nd business day of the month, but agency feedback and needed corrections can result in additional balancing payrolls. See Variance Collections & Refunds for more details.
- Review blocked filings → Review the Failed Filings report in Console daily or integrate with Check’s Filing API to understand outstanding requirements for employers that prevent timely filing and tax payments.
Support, Corrections and Amendments
- SLAs: SLAs for Support are the same as they are all Year, and can be found here: Support and Risk SLAs. Support will no longer pause approvals for processing voids and refunds during the filing month. 🎉 The only exception to Check’s general SLAs will be amendment processing for the current quarter - amendment processing SLAs for the current quarter will pause until the filing month closes.
- Corrections to Current Quarter Data: For corrected data to be included in the original filings the correction must be submitted ahead of the 20 day SLA window before quarter close (December 3rd, 2025). If the correction is not included in the original filing and must be amended, expect the amendment processing timeline to pause during filing month.
Filing Eligibility
Check determines who to file for based on the following criteria:
- Ran payroll on Check - The company must have an approved payroll managed on Check prior to the end of the quarter.
- Good Standing - The company must be in Good Standing. Check cannot file or approve balancing payrolls for companies that have existing standing conditions such as a failed debit.
- Active - The company must be active or have a tax file end date beyond the current quarter to be included. If a company terminated and did not ask for a filing, or it was an involuntary termination, Check will not file.
Variance Collections & Refunds
👋 Introducing balancing payrolls
Beginning in Q4 2025, in addition to the “regular” and “off cycle” payrolls that are created as companies are running payroll, you will see a special type of payroll called “balancing” payrolls.
Throughout the quarter, Check maintains a draft balancing payroll for every company with a payday set to the last day of the quarter. This balancing payroll gives you an early signal of any upcoming tax liability adjustments that may result in a variance collection or refund. It recalculates taxes across the quarter to ensure taxable wages and amounts align with agency rules for filing, and it updates weekly as payroll history changes.
This is a standard process in the payroll industry—taxes can fall out of balance for many reasons, such as a mid-quarter rate change or simple rounding drift over time.
Reviewing balancing payrolls across companies
Draft balancing payrolls are available for preview in the Quarterly Variance Report in Console. You can access the report by first navigating to the Reports tab in Console, selecting “Quarterly variance report”, and then selecting the current year and quarter.
Example CSV
Company ID | Company Legal Name | Total Liability | Balancing Payroll | Updated At | Approved At | Payment | Payment Type | Payment Date | Payment Amount | Agency Refund Amount |
com_GLNmgeXia8yioT968nSc | Stark Industries | 295.12 | pay_st1wudRlzHua3EzFqMRA | 2025-11-19T15:38:00Z | 2026-01-02T09:24:00Z | pyt_HlSYFp9q8DhUhSIbJju6 | Collection | 2025-01-05 | 295.12 | 0.00 |
com_EaDebPPxqR4oZHzflpQ5 | Oscorp | 125.60 | pay_gQcrWL4dRWIm6jDjZI6j | 2025-11-19T15:38:00Z | 2026-01-02T09:24:00Z | pyt_zfJaAyXnjOicFpLBnWIG | Refund | 2025-01-05 | 75.20 | 50.40 |
The Quarterly Variance Report shows all draft balancing payrolls across companies, as well as payment amounts after the quarter is closed and balancing payrolls are approved. The most important attributes to review are:
- Total liability — the net tax liability amount from the balancing payroll.
- Payment amount — the expected employer refund or collection amount from Check.
- Agency refund amount — the expected refund that the employer will receive from the agency after filing is completed.
The resulting transaction or pay adjustment can differ from the overall liability adjustment when funds have already been sent to the agency and cannot be refunded directly to the employer.
- If Check still holds the funds for a given tax and they exceed the amount due, Check can refund the employer.
- If Check no longer holds the funds, the amount will be over-reported on the return so that the agency can process a refund.
Reviewing balancing payrolls for a single company
To dig deeper into the root cause of tax variance adjustments, you can preview draft balancing payrolls at the company level. This will return a breakdown of tax variances on a company’s balancing payroll by employee and by tax.
To do this, first navigate to the balancing payroll in Console (which you can do by searching for the payroll ID in the search bar, or by navigating to Payrolls for the company and selecting the balancing payroll for the quarter). Then, open the “…” menu in the upper right and select Export payroll journal.
Example CSV
Last Name | First Name | Period Start | Period End | Payday | Payment Method | Gross Total | Net Pay | Social Security Tax (EE) |
Stark | Tony | 2025-10-01 | 2025-12-31 | 2025-12-31 | Manual | 0.00 | -0.01 | 0.01 |
2025-10-01 | 2025-12-31 | 2025-12-31 | 0 | 0.00 | -0.01 | 0.01 |
If you wanted to expose this balancing payroll preview directly to employers in your platform, you can use the preview a payroll API endpoint on the balancing payroll.
Understanding the root cause of tax variances
There is not always a straightforward answer to “why” tax variances exist for a company. A few example causes of tax variances are:
- Mid-quarter rate changes — For example, if a company’s state unemployment rate changes mid-quarter, then payrolls that were calculated during the quarter before the rate change was entered in Check will produce a variance.
- Exemptions added or removed — If an exemption to a tax was added or removed mid-quarter, then payrolls that were already processed may produce a variance to retroactively add or remove the tax.
- Mistakes during company setup — A company’s historical payrolls may have been entered with incorrect subject wages or tax amounts.
- Rounding throughout the quarter — Simple rounding differences between calculating a tax payroll by payroll vs. in aggregate on the entire quarter may produce minor variances.
- Other agency-imposed requirements — For example, credit reduction states for FUTA are announced in November ever year, and will appear as tax variances for employers in the affected states in Q4.
The best way to begin investigating the root cause of tax variances for a company is to start with payroll summary and payroll journal, which can be accessed from the Company > Reports tab. Select the option to “Include taxable wages” in the report.
Once you have the reports, look for any instances where the calculated tax amount does not equal the taxable wages times the rate for the tax. Those are more than likely the source of the tax variance, and may help you identify one of the root causes above.
Using draft balancing payrolls proactively
- For large expected variances, communicate early. Proactively notify employers well in advance of Quarter End. A good example is the FUTA Credit Reduction at Q4 Quarter End.
- If the balancing preview looks wrong, escalate quickly. If you have identified the root cause of tax variances and believe that corrections are required, create a Support request with the “Corrections + Amendments” request category. Addressing it early increases the chances it can be resolved before filings.
📅 Balancing payroll approval and variance transactions
Balancing payrolls are approved on the second business day of the filing month and variance collections or refunds are scheduled for three business days later.
After balancing payrolls are approved, the expected payment amount and agency refund amount become available in the Quarterly Variance Report.
Exceptions to this timeline
In some cases, balancing payroll approval may be delayed:
- Companies with data inaccuracies — If corrections are needed (from a company setup error or inaccurate historical payroll data), Check will process those corrections and then approve the balancing payroll once the data is accurate. The approved payroll will then appear in the report and generate a variance transaction on the adjusted timeline.
- Companies not in Good Standing — Companies in bad standing will not have approved balancing payrolls until they resolve their outstanding requirements. Once resolved, Check will approve the balancing payroll and schedule the associated variance transaction.
In some cases, a second balancing payroll may run due to a partner- or employer-initiated correction or agency feedback.
Check recommends reviewing the Quarterly Variance Report daily during the filing month to maximize your ability to set clear expectations with employers. The “Updated at” field on the Quarterly Variance Report can help you identify variances that have changed.
Reopening balancing payrolls
If an employer needs more time to fund a collection or review tax variance amounts, then partners can reopen the balancing payroll, which will cancel the scheduled transaction. This can be done from Console by opening the “…” menu on the payroll, clicking “Edit Payroll”, and then clicking “Reopen payroll”.
Important: Reopening the balancing payroll shifts responsibility to the partner. If the payroll is not re-approved in a timely manner, it may result in late payments. We recommend resolving and re-approving the payroll within three business days to avoid issues with deadlines.
Blocked Filings & Payments
A filing blocker occurs when either the core requirements for a filing are not met (company not in Good Standing or missing a tax account ID) or an electronic tax return filing is rejected by the agency during submission. Working with companies to resolve these blockers is a top priority so that filings and payments can be submitted on time.
How Check handles filing blockers
- Current filings take priority. During filing month, on-time current-quarter filings are processed before any refiles for failed returns.
- Refiles after blockers are resolved. Once the company resolves the blocker, Check’s TaxOps team will make every reasonable attempt to refile the return before its due date.
- Penalties and interest. If, despite these efforts, the due date is not met, Check will not be responsible for any penalty and/or interest associated with the original failure.
Early visibility into blocked filings and payments
To help you stay ahead, the Failed Filings Report is available for download now in Console.
- Check surfaces proactive blockers based on agency rules and known constraints before filing begins.
- Agency identified blockers typically surface within ~24 hours of the filing attempt for all bulk electronic filings and are added to the Failed Filings Report throughout the filing month.
Check recommends daily review of blocked filings to minimize late filings and post-filing month support burden.
⚠️ Paper fallback is not supported
A valid Tax ID is required for all electronic filings. If a company’s Tax ID is marked as Applied For, the return cannot be included in an e-file. At the same time, agencies are rapidly phasing out acceptance of paper returns—many will no longer process paper filings with an “Applied For” account number at all.
Because of this industry shift, Check will no longer support paper fallback.
If an agency offers electronic filing or payment but the company has not provided the required information (e.g., a valid Tax ID) or authorization (e.g., TPA), the filing will be treated as a blocked filing or payment, not a fallback paper submission.
To avoid delays and filing blockers, we strongly recommend that companies register for all applicable taxes as soon as they know they will hire in a new state or locality.
For step-by-step state registration instructions, refer to our
Types of blockers and how to resolve them
Blocking Reason | Cause | Resolution Step |
Company is in Bad Standing
company_bad_standing | The company has an unresolved failed debit or existing unresolved standing condition. | Resolve the failed debit or standing condition to remove all related blockers.
✨ Check will then automatically attempt to file or refile if provided during the filing month. |
Missing or Invalid Tax ID
applied_for_tax_id
invalid_tax_id | The company either has not registered for an account number or has not provided one to Check. | Provide the account number to Check to remove the filing block.
✨ Check will then automatically attempt to file or refile if provided during the filing month. |
Partial Failure/Invalid SSN
invalid_ssn | The agency will not accept a tax return with an invalid Social Security number, and the wage data was updated to remove applicable employee wages. | Correct the impacted employee or contractor SSN.
🎟️ Request a refile or amended return via Check Support. |
Invalid Tax Rate
invalid_tax_rate | The agency will not allow a return submission with an incorrect tax rate. (This is only expected for Oklahoma Unemployment.) | The company must supply the valid tax rate for the current year.
🎟️ Request a refile via Check Support once corrected. |
POA/TPA Failure
poa_failure
tpa_failure | This was either not completed or a step was missed during the attempt to complete it. | TPA - The company must attempt or reattempt the TPA assignment.
POA - A new POA must be signed by the Owner/Officer of the company. POA failures are a direct result of an invalid signature. These forms are available in the Filing Authorization component.
🎟️ Request a refile via Check Support once confirmed. |
Inactive account
inactive_account
incorrect_account_setup | Either an invalid Tax ID was provided by the company or the agency has closed the account due to inactivity. | The company must validate the account number. If the account number is accurate it is necessary for the company to contact the state and reactivate their account.
✨ Disable the filing via Console if the account should remain inactive.
🎟️ Request a refile via Check Support once resolved if desired. |
Already filed
already_filed | The company had a filing submitted by a different payroll provider. This is the result of incorrect offboarding from a prior provider or the company has churned. | Confirm the company intends to file. If they have churned, process a termination through Console.
If they intend to file with Check, obtain a copy of the return that was filed on their behalf to allow for an amended filing.
🎟️ Then request an amendment via Check Support with a copy of the original filing data. |
Missing Historical Data
missing_historical_data | A state may require the tax return filing to reflect each tax payment that was paid to them in the quarter. If the filing does not reconcile to the payments, the agency will reject the return. | Deposit reports and/or payroll reports should be re-requested from the company to identify what was missed in the original implementation.
🎟️ Request a refile via Check Support once corrected. |
One or more prior quarters is missing
missing_prior_quarter | The agency will not allow a filing when a prior quarter hasn’t been filed. This is specific to Louisiana Unemployment. | Either the date of registration should be corrected to remove the requirement for the prior quarter filing or a filing must be completed. Check will not file returns on periods before the company’s first processing quarter.
🎟️ Request a refile via Check Support once resolved. |
Filing is Held by the Company or Partner
held_by_customer | Company has requested hold on the filing. Check support then applies this blocker to the related filing. | 🎟️ Request to remove this blocker via Check Support once resolved. |
Employer Copies of Tax Returns
Employer copies of tax returns will be posted by the 8th business day of the month. Keep in mind these may not be the final versions. Changes to payroll data or agency feedback may result in updated values, and all updates will be reflected in the Documents endpoint and in Console.
Note: Check will provide employer copies regardless of whether the company is balanced or in Good Standing.
How to think about employer copies
Employer-facing copies are changing significantly this year:
- They are not filed when posted.
- They are for employer records only
- They cannot be filed by the employer.
- In rare cases, what is filed may differ from the original employer copy—but we will always update the employer copy to match the data actually filed with the agency.
Visual appearance of employer copies
There will be significant visual differences between Check’s Q4’2025+ forms and prior to Q4’2025 documents. This is a visual difference for the Employer copy only and over time will improve consistency and readability across all tax returns.
Employer copies are formatted to reflect the data filed with the agency, not to match the agency’s paper form (many agencies only publish electronic specs, not a standard PDF). Employer copies will also change visually to improve consistency and readability. Several high impact forms will match the familiar agency provided PDF, those forms will be:
- Federal forms (all types)
- High-volume state combinations:
- New York combined
- Oregon combined
- New Jersey combined
- All Washington forms
- California
- UT SUI
- Employer-regulated forms:
- Nebraska SIT
- Arizona SIT
- Michigan SIT
All other employer copies will have an updated appearance that preserves the essential elements needed to match the information filed with the agency.
Post Quarter End
- Refunds of Unremitted Tax Funds - Any tax funds that Check was unable to remit during the filing month (for example, due to missing Tax IDs or unresolved blockers) will be refunded to the employer five weeks after quarter close. These refunds are surfaced in the Quarterly unremittable tax refunds report in Console.
- Refiles After Filing Month - Once the filing month ends, all refiles require a Check Support ticket. These requests follow Check’s standard 20-day SLA for amendments and corrections.