Can I backdate or edit a transaction?

[Community-Team]

Hello Seller Community! 

Am I able to backdate or edit a transaction after the sale is complete? What if the sale occured earlier and I recived payment at a later date? 

[Chad · Accepted solution]

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

For context, the ability to manipulate transactions can cause issues for reporting, 1099-K's, and chargebacks. Also it would make it easier for fraudsters and scammers to commit crimes using Square Point of Sale. 

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

[mariaE]

Hi, I did a transaction with the wrong taxes, can I edit it, to correct the amounts but without changing the total amount. For example, the transaction was first recorded with 100$, 0$ tax, but it should have been 90$ with 10$ tax.

[puka]

Hi @mariaE - Unfortunately, there isn't a way to edit any aspect of a transaction once it has been completed.

[KrossProcess]

This really is a flaw in the Square system, it seems as though it is automatically set up to record GST. There are numerous providers who do not charge GST so there should be a way to edit taxes attributed to sales.

[SPetel]

Hi @Chad ,

I've read a bunch of threads on this topic and you keep giving this "Fraudsters and scammers" answer for something that seems very reasonable and a lot of people need.

Fraudsters and scammers can issue invoices using a simple word or google docs editor - you are not enabling anything by allowing this. An invoice is not a transaction and the credit card payment has nothing to do with the date on the invoice. I can pay with credit card today an invoice that was created 3 weeks ago or 3 months ago, there is nothing wrong about that.

No one is asking to change the date of a credit card transaction - all we need is to be able to backdate an invoice. NOT a transaction.

Simply put: We want to create a new, unpaid invoice, that is dated last week for example (when the service actually took place) - how is that enabling scammers or fraud?

Then I can proceed to take payment for it - either by cash or by credit card - it will show it was paid today, but the invoice date would be last week. Again - can you explain in what scenario can this be manipulated for fraud?

It is a common practice for businesses to do book keeping every few days and send out invoices a few days after the service was performed. If I work Monday-Thursday and send out invoices on Friday, using your system all my invoices are dated Friday.

Perhaps you should reconsider this flaw, unless you care to explain what fraud or scam you are referring to.

[YME]

I need to correct the date on a couple invoices. How do I perform this transaction? 

[Valentina]

Please take a look at the Best Answer provided by @Chad here in this thread for a more detailed answer, @YME. It is not possible to backdate transactions, and an invoice falls within that category - you will not be able to edit the date of a paid invoice.

[KellyAllen]

The question I have is not exactly similar. Can I change the date of an UNPAID invoice? 

[isabelle]

Yes @KellyAllen! Is this for a recurring invoice? Or just a singular one? 

[SavoryAlaska]

Actually, there are reasons it would be nice to have the ability to backdate a payment. Mainly to accurately track monthly revenue. For example, if I receive a check for payment of an April invoice but received it over the weekend at the end of the month and don't mark the invoice paid until May 1, it gets counted as May revenue when it's not. Throws things off when you use revenue data for making future revenue projections, etc. 

Another example - I had an invoice get paid over Christmas but due to holiday schedule forgot to mark it as paid until after Jan 1 so it shows as 2022 revenue when in fact it was 2021. Having the ability to backdate the payment to the correct date would keep data from being skewed. 

[Virgo19]

Has there been any movement on this. If not I might have to leave square 🤦🏾‍♀️

[LakeHoustonSign]

I accepted and deposited a check in December of 2019, I didn't mark the invoice as paid until today. My reports won't show properly unless I can fix it. I understand the "seemingly" fraudulent thought behind most, but I really just want to show the reporting correctly though our sales reports. Is there anyway to do this? 

[Joe]

Hi there, @LakeHoustonSign! Welcome to the Seller Community! We are so happy to have you. 

I've gone ahead and merged your post with a thread of Sellers who are asking for this same feature. At this time, we have no plans to enable the ability to backdate a check or transaction. For further details, I would take a look into Chad's Best Answer. 

Let me know if you have any questions! We are here to help. 

[Nick327]

@Joe  We really need the ability to change Manually Recorded payment info. For instance, an invoice was paid by cash in 2019, but not recorded in square until January os 2020...now Square thinks that revenue/service should be part of 2020 reporting.

[BigMountain]

Agreed.  I didn't put any invoices that were done through quickbooks and paid through checks in 2020 into Square.  I want to put it in the system under 2020 so that the reports are correct, but I can't.  Which means I wont be putting them in at all, because I will not be reporting it myself in 2020 and then have square re-reporting it in 2021.  

If I am just showing it as payment occurred, but not taking the payment through Square then it has nothing at all to do with scammers and fraudsters bs line.  It comes down to that not all of us are able to record cash and check transactions the day it happens and we need to record it after the fact, but correctly your system is not at all user friendly for this.

[rootstudio]

Uncategorized Items Issue

I agree with some of the comments - when we created a sale - we added an item on the fly, and now it is in a mystery category and I cannot find the item. To make matters worse, I cannot locate the uncategorized item to at least put it under the correct category.

[todaywer1]

I entered a payment manually, however it was the wrong about. how do i correct it

[isabelle]

Hey @todaywer1-

Thanks for posting in the Seller Community.

You would need to refund the payment to your customer, and run the charge again. We don't have a way of editing or correcting transaction amounts after the payment has been processed. You can learn a bit more about why here. 

[checktherime]

Hi @isabelle  and thanks for your help. Your answer to my query was exactly what you responded below:

You would need to refund the payment to your customer, and run the charge again. We don't have a way of editing or correcting transaction amounts after the payment has been processed. You can learn a bit more about why here. 

My dilemna is that the remaining balance on an invoice was $4,700.00 and the payment I wanted to apply was $4,000.00, leaving a balance of $700.00. When I went to the Add Payment function and then Record Payment by check, the the entire pending balance ($4,700.00) of the invoice was automatically entered, which is a default Square setting. I added the payment without double checking (My bad) and have thus refunded the client $4,700.00 and would now like to apply the actual $4,000.00 payment. However, Square is showing the invoice as closed, in effect blocking me from applying any payment at all!

Does it usually take time for me to be able to reprocess the correct payment after a refund has been issued? 

I appreciate your help in this matter as it is important for our record keeping. Thank you!

[isabelle]

Hey @checktherime-

 I just replied to your private message with the following:

Thanks for reaching out. I see what's going on here. 

I should've mentioned this regarding invoices. With invoices, once you've refunded the payment, the only option is to create a brand new invoice. You cannot re-charge the customer within the same invoice. I am so sorry about that. It's considered a refunded transaction, in which case you cannot reverse it and/or charge again. 

If you have any questions about this, please reply to my message, or reach out to our Support Team to discuss other options.

Have a wonderful weekend 🌠

Thanks for your time and let me know if you have any questions about this.