diff --git a/beater/v2_handler.go b/beater/v2_handler.go
index ae40094ae88..057d52dda04 100644
--- a/beater/v2_handler.go
+++ b/beater/v2_handler.go
@@ -90,7 +90,7 @@ func (v *v2Handler) handleRawModel(rawModel map[string]interface{}) (transform.T
 
 			tr, err := model.modelDecoder(entry, err)
 			if err != nil {
-				return tr, err
+				return nil, err
 			}
 			return tr, nil
 		}
@@ -104,7 +104,7 @@ func (v *v2Handler) readBatch(batchSize int, reader *decoder.NDJSONStreamReader,
 	var err error
 	var rawModel map[string]interface{}
 
-	eventables := []transform.Transformable{}
+	var eventables []transform.Transformable
 	for i := 0; i < batchSize && err == nil; i++ {
 		rawModel, err = reader.Read()
 		if err != nil && err != io.EOF {
@@ -124,6 +124,7 @@ func (v *v2Handler) readBatch(batchSize int, reader *decoder.NDJSONStreamReader,
 			if err != nil {
 				response.addWithOffendingDocument(SchemaValidationErr, err.Error(), reader.LastLine())
 				response.Invalid++
+				continue
 			}
 			eventables = append(eventables, tr)
 		}
@@ -194,7 +195,7 @@ func (v *v2Handler) handleRequestBody(r *http.Request, ndReader *decoder.NDJSONS
 
 	for {
 		transformables, done := v.readBatch(batchSize, ndReader, resp)
-		if transformables != nil && len(transformables) > 0 {
+		if transformables != nil {
 			err := report(r.Context(), pendingReq{
 				transformables: transformables,
 				tcontext:       tctx,
diff --git a/beater/v2_integration_test.go b/beater/v2_integration_test.go
index b3d5cec7051..563551432dd 100644
--- a/beater/v2_integration_test.go
+++ b/beater/v2_integration_test.go
@@ -52,16 +52,18 @@ func TestV2IntakeIntegration(t *testing.T) {
 	handler := (&v2BackendRoute).Handler(c, report)
 
 	for _, test := range []struct {
-		path string
-		name string
+		path   string
+		name   string
+		status int
 	}{
-		{path: "../testdata/intake-v2/errors.ndjson", name: "Errors"},
-		{path: "../testdata/intake-v2/transactions.ndjson", name: "Transactions"},
-		{path: "../testdata/intake-v2/spans.ndjson", name: "Spans"},
-		{path: "../testdata/intake-v2/metrics.ndjson", name: "Metrics"},
-		{path: "../testdata/intake-v2/minimal_process.ndjson", name: "MixedMinimalProcess"},
-		{path: "../testdata/intake-v2/minimal_service.ndjson", name: "MinimalService"},
-		{path: "../testdata/intake-v2/metadata_null_values.ndjson", name: "MetadataNullValues"},
+		{status: 202, path: "../testdata/intake-v2/errors.ndjson", name: "Errors"},
+		{status: 202, path: "../testdata/intake-v2/transactions.ndjson", name: "Transactions"},
+		{status: 202, path: "../testdata/intake-v2/spans.ndjson", name: "Spans"},
+		{status: 202, path: "../testdata/intake-v2/metrics.ndjson", name: "Metrics"},
+		{status: 202, path: "../testdata/intake-v2/minimal_process.ndjson", name: "MixedMinimalProcess"},
+		{status: 202, path: "../testdata/intake-v2/minimal_service.ndjson", name: "MinimalService"},
+		{status: 202, path: "../testdata/intake-v2/metadata_null_values.ndjson", name: "MetadataNullValues"},
+		{status: 400, path: "../testdata/intake-v2/invalid-event.ndjson", name: "InvalidEvent"},
 	} {
 
 		b, err := loader.LoadDataAsBytes(test.path)
@@ -80,7 +82,7 @@ func TestV2IntakeIntegration(t *testing.T) {
 		r = r.WithContext(context.WithValue(r.Context(), requestTimeContextKey, reqTimestamp))
 		handler.ServeHTTP(w, r)
 
-		assert.Equal(t, 202, w.Code)
+		assert.Equal(t, test.status, w.Code)
 
 	}
 }
diff --git a/testdata/intake-v2/invalid-event.ndjson b/testdata/intake-v2/invalid-event.ndjson
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..011bef0b2bf
--- /dev/null
+++ b/testdata/intake-v2/invalid-event.ndjson
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+{"metadata": {"user": null, "process": {"ppid": null, "pid": 1234, "argv": null, "title": null}, "system": null, "service": {"name": "1234_service-12a3", "language": {"version": null, "name":"ecmascript"}, "agent": {"version": "3.14.0", "name": "elastic-node"}, "environment": null, "framework": null,"version": null, "runtime": null}}}
+{ "transaction": { "id": 12345, "trace_id": "0123456789abcdef0123456789abcdef", "parent_id": "abcdefabcdef01234567", "type": "request", "duration": 32.592981 } }