diff --git a/pkg/kgo/txn.go b/pkg/kgo/txn.go
index 7abd727c..a5bab259 100644
--- a/pkg/kgo/txn.go
+++ b/pkg/kgo/txn.go
@@ -343,7 +343,10 @@ retryUnattempted:
 }
 
 // BeginTransaction sets the client to a transactional state, erroring if there
-// is no transactional ID or if the client is already in a transaction.
+// is no transactional ID, or if the producer is currently in a fatal
+// (unrecoverable) state, or if the client is already in a transaction.
+//
+// This must not be called concurrently with other client functions.
 func (cl *Client) BeginTransaction() error {
 	if cl.cfg.txnID == nil {
 		return errNotTransactional
@@ -351,12 +354,21 @@ func (cl *Client) BeginTransaction() error {
 
 	cl.producer.txnMu.Lock()
 	defer cl.producer.txnMu.Unlock()
+
 	if cl.producer.inTxn {
 		return errors.New("invalid attempt to begin a transaction while already in a transaction")
 	}
+
+	needRecover, didRecover, err := cl.maybeRecoverProducerID()
+	if needRecover && !didRecover {
+		cl.cfg.logger.Log(LogLevelInfo, "unable to begin transaction due to unrecoverable producer id error", "err", err)
+		return fmt.Errorf("producer ID has a fatal, unrecoverable error, err: %v", err)
+	}
+
 	cl.producer.inTxn = true
 	atomic.StoreUint32(&cl.producer.producingTxn, 1) // allow produces for txns now
 	cl.cfg.logger.Log(LogLevelInfo, "beginning transaction", "transactional_id", *cl.cfg.txnID)
+
 	return nil
 }
 
@@ -471,38 +483,13 @@ func (cl *Client) EndTransaction(ctx context.Context, commit TransactionEndTry)
 			return kerr.OperationNotAttempted
 		}
 
-		switch err.(type) {
-		case *kerr.Error:
-			kip360 := cl.producer.idVersion >= 3 && (err == kerr.UnknownProducerID || err == kerr.InvalidProducerIDMapping)
-			kip588 := cl.producer.idVersion >= 4 && (err == kerr.InvalidProducerEpoch || false /* TODO err == kerr.TransactionTimedOut */)
-
-			recoverable := kip360 || kip588
-			if !recoverable {
-				return err // fatal, unrecoverable
-			}
-
-			// At this point, nothing is being produced and the
-			// producer ID loads with an error. Before we allow
-			// production to continue, we reset all sequence
-			// numbers. Storing errReloadProducerID will reset the
-			// id / epoch appropriately and everything will work as
-			// per KIP-360.
-			cl.resetAllProducerSequences()
-
-			// With UnknownProducerID and v3 init id, we can recover.
-			// No sense issuing an abort request, though.
-			cl.producer.id.Store(&producerID{
-				id:    id,
-				epoch: epoch,
-				err:   errReloadProducerID,
-			})
+		// If we recovered the producer ID, we return early, since
+		// there is no reason to issue an abort now that the id is
+		// different. Otherwise, we issue our EndTxn which will likely
+		// fail, but that is ok, we will just return error.
+		_, didRecover, _ := cl.maybeRecoverProducerID()
+		if didRecover {
 			return nil
-
-		default:
-			// If this is not a kerr.Error, then it was some arbitrary
-			// client error. We can try the EndTxnRequest in the hopes
-			// that our id / epoch is valid, but the id / epoch may
-			// have never loaded (and thus will be -1 / -1).
 		}
 	}
 
@@ -529,13 +516,54 @@ func (cl *Client) EndTransaction(ctx context.Context, commit TransactionEndTry)
 	// If the returned error is still a Kafka error, this is fatal and we
 	// need to fail our producer ID we loaded above.
 	var ke *kerr.Error
-	if err != nil && errors.As(err, &ke) && !ke.Retriable {
+	if errors.As(err, &ke) && !ke.Retriable {
 		cl.failProducerID(id, epoch, err)
 	}
 
 	return err
 }
 
+// This returns if it is necessary to recover the producer ID (it has an
+// error), whether it is possible to recover, and, if not, the error.
+//
+// We call this when beginning a transaction or when ending with an abort.
+func (cl *Client) maybeRecoverProducerID() (necessary, did bool, err error) {
+	id, epoch, err := cl.producerID()
+	if err == nil {
+		return false, false, nil
+	}
+
+	ke, ok := err.(*kerr.Error)
+	if !ok {
+		return true, false, err
+	}
+
+	kip360 := cl.producer.idVersion >= 3 && (ke == kerr.UnknownProducerID || ke == kerr.InvalidProducerIDMapping)
+	kip588 := cl.producer.idVersion >= 4 && (ke == kerr.InvalidProducerEpoch || false /* TODO err == kerr.TransactionTimedOut */)
+
+	recoverable := kip360 || kip588
+	if !recoverable {
+		return true, false, err // fatal, unrecoverable
+	}
+
+	// At this point, the producer ID loads with error; anything being
+	// concurrently produced (which should be nothing, per calling this at
+	// the beginning or end of a transaction) will load producer IDs with
+	// an error.
+	//
+	// Before we allow production to continue, we reset all sequence
+	// numbers. Storing errReloadProducerID will reset the id / epoch
+	// appropriately and everything will work as per KIP-360.
+	cl.resetAllProducerSequences()
+
+	cl.producer.id.Store(&producerID{
+		id:    id,
+		epoch: epoch,
+		err:   errReloadProducerID,
+	})
+	return true, true, nil
+}
+
 // If a transaction is begun too quickly after finishing an old transaction,
 // Kafka may still be finalizing its commit / abort and will return a
 // concurrent transactions error. We handle that by retrying for a bit.
@@ -658,7 +686,7 @@ func (cl *Client) addOffsetsToTxn(ctx context.Context, group string) error {
 	// If the returned error is still a Kafka error, this is fatal and we
 	// need to fail our producer ID we created just above.
 	var ke *kerr.Error
-	if err != nil && errors.As(err, &ke) && !ke.Retriable {
+	if errors.As(err, &ke) && !ke.Retriable {
 		cl.failProducerID(id, epoch, err)
 	}