Form Filing Basics
Where do customers find their previously filed forms?
Taxes & Compliance → Tax Documents
What does Q1 mean in calendar dates?
Jan 1 - March 31
What color is the failed filing indicator in Panda?
Red pill at the top of the Panda page
Name one Bucket 1 failure reason.
already_filed
rejectedwillnotfile
What is EFTPS?
What does * next to a form mean?
Electronic payment coupon/receipt — NOT a downloadable form
When are quarterly reports due for Q2 filings?
July 31st (the end of the month after that quarter)
What does investigation_required mean?
Failed, no customer alert yet. Will NOT be pulled into next workflow.
What must customer do for not_authorized?
Grant Gusto TPA access through the state agency portal
Name the form for quarterly federal taxes, and name the annual federal filing form.
941 & 940
Can Gusto file anything for a period before the company was active with us?
No — Gusto can only file for quarters the company was active
What fiscal quarter and year is it right now?
Q4
FY26
Our new fiscal year starts on May 1st!
Name 2 of the 4 resolution statuses.
Investigation_required
no_action_required
ready_to_file
soft_suspension_created
Accountant filed 941 before Gusto. Can Gusto file the 941-X?
No, we can only amend what we originally filed.
What happens to unpaid taxes when all refiles fail?
We refund them and note it in Panda. Customer must file and pay outside of Gusto.
For prepaid payrolls before switching to Gusto (non-Gusto payrolls) — will Gusto file quarterly returns?
No — prepaid payrolls do NOT trigger quarterly filings. Only live Gusto payrolls do.
WILD CARD -
What's the name of the tax system we use inside Panda?
Pufferfish
What is catch_all and why is it urgent?
catch_all = unknown failure; MUST be investigated before deadline; requires TaxOps Jira
Name the 3 resolution buckets.
Bucket 1: Outside Gusto
Bucket 2: Customer fixes with agency
Bucket 3: TaxOps Jira
Alaska Q3 failed 3x — what do you tell the customer?
Their taxes will be refunded and they must file & pay outside of Gusto. Please resolve the issue so we can file/pay next quarter.
Company started with us in July 2025. They enter a backdated non-Gusto payroll as prepaid for Q3. Today is Oct 10 —what will happen?
Since they became active with us in Q3 and we are already filing for Q3, the non-Gusto backdated payroll will trigger an amendment automatically IF we've already filed. Gusto will amend Q3 to include the new non-Gusto payroll, if necessary. Chances are that we'll catch this added payroll before we file so it could be included on the original filings!
How many total filing attempts will we do?
Three!
Original Filing: Before the quarterly deadline
Pre-Deadline Refile: If time permits — TaxOps tries to leave 2–3 days before deadline
Final Refile Attempt: One month after deadline (could be late)
What Department is Payroll & Taxes part of?
And what umbrella are we under?
We are On-Demand Customer Care and we are under the CX (customer experience) umbrella.
If we tell someone they have to file their 941 outside of Gusto, what can we do to help the customer with this?
We should pull the filing we attempted and forward via sendsafely.
We can also send them the subject wages report or walk them through pulling it, so they can verify the info.
What changed under Project Phoenix?
Soft suspensions no longer blocked payroll.