diff --git a/packages/core/src/inbound/task-consent.ts b/packages/core/src/inbound/task-consent.ts
index ad2ffa0..47cc8f0 100644
--- a/packages/core/src/inbound/task-consent.ts
+++ b/packages/core/src/inbound/task-consent.ts
@@ -152,7 +152,16 @@ export interface ParsedTaskConsentRequest {
 }
 
 export type TaskConsentRequestRejection =
+  /** Not addressed to this handler at all — the ONLY reason a caller may
+   *  ignore silently. Everything else claimed to be a consent request and
+   *  failed, which a human is waiting on and must therefore be reported. */
   | "not-a-task-consent-request"
+  /** It IS a consent request, but its payload is unusable. Distinct from the
+   *  above because it used to share it, and callers key on that reason to
+   *  decide whether to stay quiet: a malformed request was dropped in total
+   *  silence — no prompt, no log, and the pending record cleared — which is
+   *  indistinguishable from a message that never arrived. */
+  | "malformed-payload"
   | "untrusted_issuer"
   | "expired"
   | "not_eligible";
@@ -246,7 +255,7 @@ export async function parseTaskConsentRequest(
     !payload.exposure ||
     typeof payload.exposure !== "object"
   ) {
-    return reject("not-a-task-consent-request", "payload is missing required members");
+    return reject("malformed-payload", "payload is missing required members");
   }
 
   const now = opts.now ?? new Date();
diff --git a/packages/core/tests/inbound.task-consent.mjs b/packages/core/tests/inbound.task-consent.mjs
index 890860e..2ec1501 100644
--- a/packages/core/tests/inbound.task-consent.mjs
+++ b/packages/core/tests/inbound.task-consent.mjs
@@ -146,12 +146,19 @@ test("…but may approve its own task when policy permits it", async () => {
   assert.equal(res.ok, true);
 });
 
-test("a payload missing required members is refused", async () => {
+test("a payload missing required members is refused, and says so distinctly", async () => {
   // A genuinely-signed request that is nonetheless unusable: without the digest
   // there is nothing to bind an approval to, so there is nothing to approve.
   const res = await parseTaskConsentRequest(await inbound({ drop: ["payloadDigest"] }), opts);
   assert.equal(res.ok, false);
-  assert.equal(res.reason, "not-a-task-consent-request");
+  // NOT "not-a-task-consent-request". That reason means "not addressed to this
+  // handler", and callers are entitled to ignore it silently — which is exactly
+  // what happened to a malformed request in the field: dropped with no prompt,
+  // no log, and its pending record cleared, indistinguishable from a message
+  // that never arrived. A request that claimed to be a consent ask and failed
+  // is something a human is waiting on, so it must stay reportable.
+  assert.equal(res.reason, "malformed-payload");
+  assert.match(res.detail ?? "", /missing required members/);
 });
 
 // ── What the human is shown ──────────────────────────────────────────────────