The most common cause for the error 'ATO.GEN.XML03 A field contains invalid data (such as letters in a numeric or date field)', is the YTD value is negative for a category that does not support negative amounts.
Fields that allow negative amounts
The following STP Categories do support negative amounts; however, the Derived Gross amount must still be of a positive value.
Gross Payments
Overtime
Allowances
Leave
Bonuses and Commissions
Directors Fees
Lump Sum Payment
Salary Sacrifice Amount
For further information, please see the article about Derived Gross.
How do I identify which category was the negative?
The message returned from the ATO will provide you with information to identify the employee and transaction.
The employee with the issue is listed in the error returned, and the message will contain the value and field.
Value = will be the amount
IncomeTaxableA = the field
ATO Field | Definitiv STP Pay Item Category |
incomeTaxPayAsYouGoWithholdingTaxWithheldA | PAYG |
incomeTaxFreeA | ETP Tax Free |
incomeTaxableA | ETP Taxable |
incomePayAsYouGoWithholdingA | ETP Tax Withheld |
remunerationA | Deduction |
employerContributionsYearToDateA | Superannuation Liability |
incomeFringeBenefitsReportable | Reportable Fringe Benefits |
To fix the ATO.GEN.XML03 STP error
Non ETP Payment
Check that all pay items in that category are mapped to the appropriate STP Category to be combined
Check that the correct pay item was used throughout the year
If the amount is still negative, you may need to transfer the amount to another code via payrun
ETP Payment
ETPs are a little more complex, as the Payment Date of the ETP is communicated to the ATO
Navigate to the STP YTDs report.
If the value on the report shows as negative, then a pay run must be run to bring the values back to $0. Ensure you use the same payment date as the original payment so the transactions can be merged. If the negative ETP was due to recouping inadequate notice, the amounts should be deducted from the payment it was reduced from, e.g., AL on Termination
If the value on the report shows zero, then there may have been an adjustment to an ETP, but the wrong payment date was used. Use the Payruns report to identify the ETP transactions and relevant payment dates. If there is a positive and negative amount with 2 different payment dates, you'll need to create 2 x pay runs to reverse the transactions. Ensure you use the same payment dates as the original transactions.
Note: Depending on the order you process the adjustments, you may still receive an error on the first pay run once published and lodged, but the error should no longer be returned after the second pay run is lodged.