Answer
Commonwealth Bank may reject an ABA file with an error such as "Your file has duplicate entries. Remove the duplicates and try again."
This can happen when the ABA file contains more than one payment line going to the same CBA bank account, even if each line has a different payment reference, lodgement reference or amount.
This is not a restriction of the ABA or Cemtex file standard. It appears to be an additional CBA upload rule, and we have reported this issue to CBA. To our knowledge, this same restriction is not commonly applied by other banks.
This can be especially difficult for SuperStream payments, as super contributions need unique payment or lodgement reference numbers for each transaction. Some super funds or USIs may share the same receiving bank account, which can result in multiple ABA lines going to the same account.
Pays and wages files are now split automatically
For the pays and wages banking file created under Pays >> Direct Entry, Lightning Payroll now handles this for you. When a pay run pays the same account more than once and your company banks with CBA, the file is split into several files automatically, so no single file contains the same account twice. The Save Direct Entry File step lists every file it is about to write.
If your CBA account does accept a repeated destination account, you can turn the split off. On the Save Direct Entry File step, untick Split into separate files when an account is paid twice. The setting is remembered for the company and does not affect other banks.
SuperStream files are not split automatically
Please note: the automatic split applies to the pays and wages direct entry file only. SuperStream deposit files are created separately and are not split, so if CBA rejects a super ABA file for duplicate entries you will still need one of the options below.
If CBA rejects your ABA file for this reason, you can try one of the following options:
- Use another payment method, such as PayTo or PayID, where available.
- Use a SAFF file instead of an ABA file, if suitable for your super payment process.
- Split the payments into two separate ABA files, so the same bank account does not appear more than once in each file.
- Pay the affected transactions manually through your bank.
- Consider using another bank that does not apply this additional ABA upload restriction.
For more information about available SuperStream payment methods in Lightning Payroll, please see What SuperStream Payment Options Are Available For Payday Super?
