Upload Report

Page last updated 2/19/2025

Use the Report Upload menu option to upload the contribution report produced by your payroll system.

The most common payroll systems used in school settings (e.g., Black Mountain, Tyler Technologies, C and C Computers) produce text files that match the file layout required by the Wage & Contribution Reporting System.

•Accepted file extensions are .txt, .exp, .lst, and .trs.

TIP: The technical specification for upload files is posted in the Employers section of the TRS website. If you or your software vendor need assistance locating it, contact TRS I.T. staff at 406-444-3395 or 406-444-9293.
 

Upload Report

Contribution reports must be uploaded and submitted one pay period at a time, in chronological order.

•You may not upload a report for the prior fiscal year, once TRS has closed out that year.

oNote: The TRS fiscal year (July 1 through June 30) is closed out shortly after the July 15 deadline for reporting June wages.

You may upload an Adjustment report for any month in the current, open fiscal year – as long as TRS has posted your Contribution report for the same pay period.

oAn Adjustment report may be used, for example, to submit additional contributions that were omitted from the original contribution report.

oSee the Field Names and Descriptions section, below.

Field Names and Descriptions

Report Type: This field defaults to Contribution.

•Select Adjustment if you need to submit additional contributions or adjustments for a prior pay period. When Adjustment is selected, the Override field is omitted from the screen layout, as shown below:

Pay Period: A drop-down list that defaults to the pay period following the last contribution report you submitted.

Important:

oFor a Contribution report, only the next available pay period appears in this field.

oFor an Adjustment report, this field displays only pay periods within the current fiscal year and for which contributions have been posted.

Override: A field that displays only when the Report Type is Contribution.

•The selection defaults to No but  can be changed to Yes if you intend to replace a previously uploaded Contribution report for the same pay period.

TIP: The field is disabled if TRS has begun processing the contribution report. See details in Step 3 of the Upload procedure, below.

Upload File / Browse button: Use this button to select your wage and contribution file for upload. See below.

Upload a report created by your payroll system

1.Choose Upload Report from the menu.

2.If necessary, change the values in the Report Type and Pay Period fields.

The Pay Period must match the month defined within your payroll system's upload file.

3.Change the Override field from No to Yes only if you recently uploaded a Contribution report for the same pay period and you want to replace it.

•You may only override a contribution report that displays a Report Status of Employer Editing on the Report Summary page; see Employer Reports for details.

TIP:  If the report is in Submitted status and the Report Summary page displays an Unsubmit button, you may use the button to return the report to Employer Editing status.

oThe Override function does not apply to an Adjustment report. However, if you have uploaded an Adjustment report in error, you can click the Edit Report Header button on the Employer Reports page and delete it.

4.Click the Browse button. In the window that opens, find the file that you want to upload from your network or hard drive.

•By default, the Browse window displays custom text file types ending in .txt, .trs, .lis, and .exp. These represent the file types output by most school payroll systems.

TIP: If you do not see your upload file listed, click the Down arrow in the lower right to change the setting from Custom Files to All Files.

5.Click on your upload file and choose Open. The name of the selected file now displays on the Upload Report page.

Be sure to select the file for the correct payroll period.

6.Click the Upload button to upload this contribution report to the Wage & Contribution System.  The system performs an initial validation to ensure the uploaded file is of the correct type and contains the correct data elements.

7.Wait until the "wheel" stops spinning. It may take a few minutes to upload a report for a larger agency.

If the upload is successful:

8.Proceed to the Employer Reports page to run the Employer Edit Report. See Step-by-Step Procedures for details.

If the upload is NOT successful:

A red error message displays on the Upload Report page if the file does not meet the requirements for upload.

•Often, the error is caused by selecting the file for the wrong pay period.

o Repeat Step 4 above and confirm you have selected the correct file.

A common example of upload failure due to mismatched pay period.

Less common upload errors

•Sometimes the file cannot be accepted due to problems with member data, such as numeric characters or punctuation in a member's name. The screen will display information about the type(s) of problems found.

oCorrect errors in your payroll system, if possible, and produce a new report for upload.

•Rarely, the upload failure is caused by a problem with the way your payroll system created the upload file. An example is shown in the screen image below.

oIf the upload error cannot be resolved by correcting member data in your payroll system, contact your system administrator, not TRS.  You may wish to use the Print icon in the upper right corner of the page to print the error details for the system administrator.

oA link to the technical specification is provided at the top of this Online Manual section.

Example of upload failure due to many instances of missing or invalid data.

Contact your system administrator or payroll software provider if you are unable to resolve the error.

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