Can I backdate, edit, or delete a transaction?

[AC]

The title of this post has been edited from the original:  Can you delete a transaction?

How do you delete a completed "Cash" transaction? I ran it just as a test.

[AC]

The title of this post has been edited from the original:  Can you delete a transaction?

[#3]

Hi @TheGlencafe,

Right now we have no plans to add the ability to backdate, delete or manipulate transaction information after a sale is complete. 

For context, the ability to manipulate transactions can cause issues for reporting and chargebacks. Also, it would make it easier for fraudsters and scammers to commit crimes using Square Point of Sale. 

If you have test cash transactions in your transaction history, you can always refund these payments to balance your books. See our help article on how to refund a payment.

Hopefully this has provided some transparency on this request, and why it's not available. 

[#4]

Hello @alexaiezza, welcome to the Seller Community! 

Currently adding the ability to delete a transaction is not on our road map. The reasoning behind this is we use this information to submit 1099-K's to the IRS. I'm not saying you would do this, but it would be easy to cook your books if this ability was available. 

Another request on this thread is to be able to void transactions so they don't show on reports. Currently we are in the process of collecting feedback for this request. I don't have a timeline on when it might be available. 

If you have any other questions please let me know! 

[#5]

@TomTr

I appreciate your feedback in regards to this. I know you've probably read this multiple times within the Seller Community, but we really do send customer feedback over to our Product Teams, and advocate for changes for you.

I absolutely agree that a void feature would help with training and testing, and also make reporting look a lot cleaner as well. You make a great point that with test payments, or payments made by mistake, nothing is ever actually sold, so your gross sales report shouldn't reflect a sale (which is what results when issuing a refund).

As you've alluded to in your previous post, there are two different requests within this thread. Some folks are looking for the ability to completely remove or delete a transaction, which isn't possible at this time. We don’t have any new information around whether or not this will ever become available.

The other option that folks are looking for, having an option to mark payments that have been completed as voided/cancelled rather than refunded, would help sellers a ton and we’ll continue to reiterate that to the team on your behalf.

We know this request is important to you, so as soon as there are updates that we’re able to share publicly, we will.

I hope this provides more clarity, and thank you all, again, for your feedback!

[#6]

Maybe the Square team can find a way to mark the transactions as Void, so that they do not affect sales totals, but neither are the transactions erased.

From an accounting standpoint, I can see why they would not let a transaction just be deleted. There has to be a documentation trail.

When I have to make test transactions, when I refund the transaction I make note that it was a test transaction and that is why it was refunded. There is also the "Accidental Charge" notation available.

Then when I download my sales reports, I sort the test transactions out and make a note in my saved spreadsheet.

[Dcyphert]

Thank you, Helen! Appreciate the feedback.

[MTSU]

Thanks for the update Helen.  One of the consistent complaints -- and rightly so -- is that these dummy transactions are being put in because new account holders are following the instructions Square has for how to set up your account.  After putting in the transaction, then you find out that you're actually live, it's not just a practice run.  So might I suggest that the simplest and quickest way to address 75-90% of the complaints is to simply change the instructions on how to set up your account, and to WARN people that if they put in what they think is going to be just a test entry, that it's not a practice entry.  It's a very real entry that you'll never get off your books.  Given that warning, I think you'll see a lot of these complaints stop.  There will of course always be the people who need to void a transaction, which for tax purposes, is NOT the same thing as a refund.  A void transaction never occurred because you never actually got the money, and a refund is reported separately as a refund on your schedule C or corporate return.

[creatorofstuff]

I would also like to add (to the comment above by @MTSU) one more thing that would help eliminate many of the complaints. If you issue a refund (aka a return), if Square would reflect this change in the inventory, it would be hugely helpful. Not only did I blindly create a sale while going through the set up process, I also accidentally rang up an item that should not have been included in a sale (with a real customer). I promptly issued a refund, but my inventory showed that product as being sold, not returned. I've had to make a mental note of those things ever since, so my inventory count isn't screwed up. 

To @tpmd - perhaps there are some folks who are interested in cheating the system, but I for one, had never even thought of that, and I'm guessing that most of us are honest people who simply want their inventory numbers to reflect what was actually sold, not anything so heinous as you suggest. 

[tpmd]

The original question 8 pages ago was "How do I delete a cash transaction?"  Perhaps those that have a more honest inventory question need to be more specific?

[creatorofstuff]

You do raise a point, but that first person did say that they ran it as a test, and I still maintain that if one isn't thinking about cheating, then one doesn't necessarily think of wording one's question in a way that indicates that cheating is not one's intention. 

[QBJ]

This question is continually asked, and has been going to your feedback team for way too long without a sensible fix. If employee fraud is a concern, then build in a required supervisor/owner code to proceed with a deletion. 

[DrewJohnston]

This is what I suggested and seems like a sensible fix. Make it so that only 'managers' or store owners can issue the returns which clear those transactions whether it be cash, debit, whichever. 

Then would have to use that login ONLY to make those changes happen with the sufficient priveledges.

[Pkeegs]

I have read every post here, I'm still in disbelief that you cannot delete a transaction. Please remedy this Square.

[aram]

How can I erase transactions without refunding - can we erase history?

[SmartyPantsJane]

Thanks, Helen! We'll cross our fingers and hope that this issue is addressed to our satisfaction during this tax year.

(The prospect of someone trying to "cheat the system" shouldn't even be a consideration. Cheaters will always find ways to cheat. Period. Bookkeeping and sales records have been done with pencil and paper, in real, actual books, and then in computerized speadsheets for ages. Has Microsoft ever been held accountable because a cheater deleted a transaction in their Excel files? Probably not. Why should Square be responsible for the accountability of cheaters, yet prohibit honest business people from making appropriate changes (especially when they were based on a test run or during a training)?

Again, I look forward to a satisfactory resolution!