What Happens If You Don't Approve Your Filing Before the 5th?

What Happens If You Don't Approve Your Filing Before the 5th?

Short answer: Nothing breaks. Your filing is approved automatically on the 5th and submitted on time. Here's the full timeline so you know exactly what to expect.

Note: this applies to your regular monthly and quarterly filings. If you're looking at a back filing (a return for a past period, usually one we filed after finding it during a state review), this article doesn't apply. Back filings don't auto-approve on the 5th or on any date. They wait in Unfiled status until you approve them yourself. See Back Filing Process and Timeline for details.

If you take no action, Kintsugi approves your filing for you on the 5th of the month and files it on time. Auto-Approve is enabled by default for all accounts, so doing nothing is a valid choice and not a missed deadline.

You only need to act if you want to review the numbers first, or if something looks wrong.

The Monthly Timeline

IMPORTANT: Back filings are not included in this timeline. They do not move to Filing automatically regardless of date.

What Approval Actually Does

The moment your filing is approved (whether you click Approve yourself or Auto-Approve does it on the 5th) three things happen:

1. Your totals lock. Before approval, filing totals can still shift as your integrations sync new or updated transaction data. After approval, the amount is final and stops changing.

2. The return is submitted to the tax authority.

3. The ACH debit is initiated against your linked bank account.

Payment is scheduled for two business days after your return is filed. A few jurisdictions process earlier than that (Florida and North Carolina are the common examples). If filing happens on the due date itself, payment may be same-day.

If You Want More Time: Pause the Filing

If something doesn't look right, or you need longer to review, you can pause the filing instead of letting it auto-approve.

How to pause:

1. Go to the Filings page and find the filing you want to hold.

2. Click the kebab menu (...) next to it.

3. Select Pause.

4. In the pop-up, choose your reason for pausing and an approve filing date — the date the filing resumes normal processing.

5. Click Save. The status changes to Paused.

Two timing limits worth knowing:

• You can only pause a filing up to the 5th. After that, it has already moved into processing.

• Your resume date can be set as late as the 15th of the current month.

A paused filing will not be auto-approved and will not lock until it resumes and is approved.

If the 5th Has Already Passed

Once a filing has been approved and submitted, stopping it gets harder, but it isn't always too late.

• Contact us immediately through the 24/7 live chat in your dashboard. There is typically a two-business-day window before the ACH debit fully clears the banking system, and we will try to intercept it.

• This isn't guaranteed. If the tax authority has already processed the return, we cannot pause, reverse, or claw back the payment.

The sooner you reach out, the better the odds.

Special Cases

If you have a custom debit date. Pausing a filing does not automatically shift a custom payment date you've configured. You (or your authorized Kintsugi contact) will need to log in to the state tax authority portal to adjust the scheduled debit date manually.

If you remit payments manually (by wire, check, or paying the state directly), always approve the filing before sending payment. That locks the total, so the amount you send matches the amount on the return. Exporting a filing and paying before approval can leave you with a mismatch to reconcile with the state later.

If you have overdue or back filings. Auto-Approve and Auto-File apply only to current and upcoming filings. Past-due returns are handled through a separate manual process and won't be picked up automatically on the 5th.

FAQs

Q: Will my return still be filed on time if I do nothing?

A: Yes. Filings approved on or before the 5th are submitted on or before the statutory deadline.

Q: My filing total changed between the 1st and the 5th. Did I do something wrong?

A: No. This is expected. Unapproved filings keep updating as your connected platforms refresh transaction data. The total becomes final at approval.

Q: Can I approve early instead of waiting for the 5th?

A:Yes. Open the filing from the Filings tab, review the tax amount, jurisdiction, and supporting transactions, then click Approve.

Q: Why can't I pause after the 5th?

A: To keep returns on schedule. After the 5th, filings move toward submission and lock so the data can't change mid-process.

Need Help?

If you can't find the answer you're looking for, click the chat bubble in the bottom-right corner of your dashboard. We're always happy to help.