Skip to content
Breadcrumbs

Texas Payroll/Personnel Resource

Note: To navigate this guide on a mobile device you must use the Table of Contents.

General Provisions
Warrant Cancellations and Direct Deposit Cancellations and Reversals

Background

State agencies that discover an error in a payment amount must cancel the erroneous payment and reissue the corrected payroll payment.

Warrant Cancellations

To cancel a warrant, agency payroll officers should follow the procedures for warrant cancellation for the appropriate statewide financial system (USPS, CAPPS, SPRS or USAS).

A warrant may not be cancelled until the agency has verified it is unpaid and should be cancelled only if the agency has the warrant in hand or has employee assurance the warrant is lost.

An agency can verify the status of a warrant through the Web Warrant Inquiry and Cancellation System (WWIC) website.

Direct Deposit Cancellations Before Direct Deposit Deadline

Erroneous direct deposit payments made before the published direct deposit deadline must be canceled in the appropriate statewide financial system (USPS, CAPPS, SPRS or USAS) then reissued. See Payroll Due Dates and Direct Deposit Schedules (FPP E.030).

To cancel a direct deposit payment before the direct deposit deadline, agency payroll officers should follow the procedures for the appropriate statewide financial system.

Direct Deposit Reversals After Direct Deposit Deadline

After the published direct deposit deadline, direct deposit transactions may only be reversed for specific reasons:

  • Incorrect payee
  • Incorrect payment amount
  • Duplicate payment
  • Incorrect payment date

To request the reversal of a direct deposit payment after the direct deposit deadline, agencies must submit the Direct Deposit Reversal Request form (74-191) to the Comptroller’s office.

After the agency requests reversal of the direct deposit payment and if funds are returned to the Comptroller’s office, funds are deposited into the agency’s Fund 9014 in USAS. Agencies must move the returned money to the original fund the erroneous payment was issued from. After the transfer has been completed, the agency may process a subsequent payroll payment to replace the erroneous payment.

See Direct Deposit Payments Made in Error and Payroll Reversals on TexPayment Resource.

Comptroller’s Office Responsibilities

Comptroller’s office staff deposits returned monies from direct deposit reversals to agency accounts when the money is returned through automated clearing house transactions.

Agency Responsibilities

A state agency must maintain communication with employees and staff to ensure that information on salary actions, leave without pay, new hires, terminations and retirements is communicated and processed in a timely manner to prevent errors and the need for warrant cancellations and direct deposit reversals to the greatest extent possible.

If the agency is unable to obtain sufficient information to ensure payrolls process correctly, which would prevent the need for cancellations and reversals, agencies must comply with Comptroller’s office requirements for cancelling warrants or for cancelling or reversing direct deposit of payroll.

If an agency is unable to reverse the direct deposit, or if the warrant was distributed before the error was noted, the payment is invalid and is most likely an overpayment. It is the agency’s responsibility to seek reimbursement directly from the employee. If the agency is unable to recoup the funds, the agency must place the employee on warrant hold as required by Texas Government Code, Section 403.055 (f) and (g).

Sources

34 Texas Administrative Code, Section 5.13: Paying State Employees Through Electronic Funds Transfers.