diff --git a/src/api/viya/spec/uploadTables.spec.ts b/src/api/viya/spec/uploadTables.spec.ts
index ab00cfd..a253674 100644
--- a/src/api/viya/spec/uploadTables.spec.ts
+++ b/src/api/viya/spec/uploadTables.spec.ts
@@ -23,6 +23,20 @@ describe('uploadTables', () => {
     )
   })
 
+  it('should skip $tablename formats metadata keys', async () => {
+    const data = {
+      tablewith2cols2rows: [{ col1: 'val1', specialMissingsCol: 'A' }],
+      $tablewith2cols2rows: { formats: { specialMissingsCol: 'best.' } }
+    }
+
+    const files = await uploadTables(requestClient, data, 't0k3n')
+
+    expect(files).toEqual([
+      { tableName: 'tablewith2cols2rows', file: 'test-file' }
+    ])
+    expect(requestClient.uploadFile).toHaveBeenCalledTimes(1)
+  })
+
   it('should throw an error when the CSV exceeds the maximum length', async () => {
     const data = { foo: 'bar' }
     jest
diff --git a/src/api/viya/uploadTables.ts b/src/api/viya/uploadTables.ts
index 47f3208..54749be 100644
--- a/src/api/viya/uploadTables.ts
+++ b/src/api/viya/uploadTables.ts
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 import { prefixMessage } from '@sasjs/utils/error'
 import { RequestClient } from '../../request/RequestClient'
-import { convertToCSV } from '../../utils/convertToCsv'
+import { convertToCSV, isFormatsTable } from '../../utils/convertToCsv'
 
 /**
  * Uploads tables to SAS as specially formatted CSVs.
@@ -18,6 +18,10 @@ export async function uploadTables(
   const uploadedFiles = []
 
   for (const tableName in data) {
+    // $tablename keys carry only column-format metadata for the matching
+    // tablename payload; they must not be uploaded as separate files.
+    if (isFormatsTable(tableName)) continue
+
     const csv = convertToCSV(data, tableName)
     if (csv === 'ERROR: LARGE STRING LENGTH') {
       throw new Error(