thread Re: Applied a payment to the wrong invoice... how can I back it out and apply to the correct invoice in Payments Troubleshooting

Applied a payment to the wrong invoice... how can I back it out and apply to the correct invoice?

TreadzDA — Sun, 21 Sep 2025 17:23:09 GMT

So, I had a client's mom send a payment to me via e-transfer; unfortunately she did not reference her daughter's name and I mistakenly applied the payment to the invoice of another client with the same last name as the mom that sent the e-transfer (confused yet?). So I now have a client that has not paid that shows that her invoice is paid and a client who has paid, whose invoice shows it is not paid. The 2nd is an easy fix... I can apply the payment... however, how can I remove the payment from the other invoice? I can't seem to find a work around for this. HELP.

Re: Applied a payment to the wrong invoice... how can I back it out and apply to the correct invo...

ashc — Mon, 24 Aug 2020 11:53:15 GMT

Hey @TreadzDA,

Sorry but there isn't a way to transfer a payment from one invoice to another.

I'd recommend probably refunding the payment and making sure the correct invoice is sent out to the correct recipient to make sure that invoice shows as paid.

Or you can mark the correct one as paid but there isn't a way to remove the payment from the invoice aside from refunding it.

Re: Applied a payment to the wrong invoice... how can I back it out and apply to the correct invo...

TreadzDA — Mon, 24 Aug 2020 12:03:11 GMT

Hi, Thanks for getting back to me on this. I would think that this is an oversight on the system then and should be considered a feature for a future update. It's very messy for the books, to be doing phantom returns and new invoices.

I appreciate you taking the time to answer though.

Re: Applied a payment to the wrong invoice... how can I back it out and apply to the correct invo...

Debs23 — Wed, 06 Mar 2024 07:24:25 GMT

I have a similar(ish) issue where it would be helpful to remove credit from one invoice and apply it to another. Admins: Feature request please! 🙂

Re: Applied a payment to the wrong invoice... how can I back it out and apply to the correct invoice

RhysMartin — Thu, 29 Aug 2024 04:38:59 GMT

I have just done the exact same thing. PLEASE add this feature to fix a payment mistake 🙏

Re: Applied a payment to the wrong invoice... how can I back it out and apply to the correct invoice

Wagoo — Tue, 10 Sep 2024 21:28:17 GMT

Agreed, how is this not a feature? I have a client that owns two businesses, and I work for both, we'll call them Company A and Company B. I received two checks with the Company A name on them, but I assumed she wanted one check for Company A and one for Company B. However, she asked me to apply them both to Company A and plans to issue new checks for Company B. So, no problem, I'll just mark the second invoice for company A as 'paid', but how am I supposed to refund a check payment from my $0 balance in the Square platform when I don't really need to offer a refund, I just have to apply the check to a different invoice? I ended up refunding the payment, duplicating the invoice so I have a new unpaid invoice, archiving the old refunded invoice, and then applying the payment to the correct company/invoice. What a mess... Admittedly my fault, but... seems like a common enough mistake I wouldn't think it would be such an accounting nightmare.

Re: Applied a payment to the wrong invoice... how can I back it out and apply to the correct invoice

Lou8 — Thu, 12 Sep 2024 11:31:57 GMT

Hi @Wagoo, thank you for posting.

At this time, editing a paid or refunded invoice is a feature request. I haven't heard any updates about the availability of this feature, but feel free to file a request on our ideate board to add visibility.

Note that refunding an invoice that was marked as paid by check won't affect your Square balance. The invoice will only be marked as refunded.

Let me know if you have any other questions.