Should you void an invoice or issue a credit note? A guide for Xero users

An approved invoice is wrong. Xero gives you two ways to cancel its effect, a void and a credit note, and its own pages point to one or the other depending on whether the customer has seen the invoice. This guide sets out what Xero says, a plain way to decide between them, and which of the two you can do for many documents at once.

Checked against Xero Central on 12 October 2026.

What the help pages say

• Not sent yet: edit it. Xero's page on deleting or voiding an invoice says that if you haven't sent the invoice and need to correct an error, edit it instead. Editing doesn't notify your customer, and if you've sent a PDF you need to send the new version (Edit an invoice).
• Sent: issue a credit note. The same page says that if you have sent the invoice and need to correct it, issue a credit note so there is an audit trail for you and your customer. The credit note page repeats the point: issue one to reduce the amount of an invoice you've sent (Add a credit note to a customer's invoice).
• Sent, but a void may suit better. Xero's edit page says that if you've already sent an awaiting payment invoice, in some situations it might be better to void it and create a new one.
• Draft or awaiting approval: delete it. Only an awaiting payment invoice can be voided, and a paid one needs its payment removed first.

Xero's page of common credit note scenarios shows the partial case: an invoice raised for 11,000 that should have been 10,000 is corrected with a credit note for 1,000, after which the Profit and Loss report shows 10,000 of sales and the tax liability is adjusted.

A plain way to decide

1. Only part of the invoice is wrong: a credit note for the difference. A void can't do this.
2. All of it is wrong and the customer has not seen it: edit it, or void it and create the right one.
3. All of it is wrong and it has been sent: Xero's guidance is a credit note. If you void instead, that is your decision, and your accountant's.
4. It has been paid: either remove the payment and void (Delete an invoice or bill payment), or credit it and refund the credit note, which Xero's credit notes page describes.
5. It is a bill: Xero says voiding a bill could have tax implications and to check with your accountant or bookkeeper (Delete or void a bill).
6. It is dated inside a locked period: users can't add or edit transactions dated on or before a lock date (Set up or remove lock dates). A credit note is a new transaction with its own date, but where a correction should land is a question for your accountant.

Where the native way runs out

• Sales invoices are voided one at a time. Xero says awaiting payment invoices can't be voided in bulk. Bills are different: several can be voided at once from the Awaiting Payment tab.
• A credit note is one per invoice. Each one is created and approved separately, with its account, date and tax rate.
• A void can't be undone. Xero says voided invoices can't be reinstated or restored. A credit note's allocation can be removed again (Remove a customer credit note allocation).
• Currency must match. An awaiting payment invoice can only be credited by a credit note in the same currency.

The faster way: Unapprove

Unapprove is a web app that works with Xero. For this job it can do the void for a batch, and a whole-balance credit note for a batch. It does not issue partial credit notes, so a correction for only part of an invoice stays a job in Xero.

Void run. Select a batch of approved sales invoices and bills, preview, type the count, for example VOID 60, and they are voided in batches of 50 per request, with no copies. Every document is checked against Xero again right before it is voided, and each gets a history note. Documents with a payment or credit allocated are skipped (why), as are documents in a locked period (why).

Write off run. For each selected approved document with money still owed, it raises one credit note for exactly the balance, on the account and date you choose, and allocates it. It is built for write-offs, so you pick one account for all the sales invoices in a run and one for all the bills. Whether that is right for a corrected invoice is for your accountant to say. Each credit note can be reversed for 30 days after the run, with a typed confirmation. The write-off guide has the details.

If you need the corrected invoice as well, the unapprove run makes a draft copy first and voids the original afterwards, keeping the number (details).

What access it asks for: your name and email to sign you in, read and write on invoices and bills, read and write on attachments, and read-only on organisation settings and contacts.

What it never does: see your Xero password, change anything before you type the confirmation, or undo a void. Nobody can undo a void.

Price: free for 14 days, with unlimited previews and three documents processed in total. After that, $29 per month per connected organisation, or a one-off $49 Clean-up Pass for 7 days and up to 500 documents. Prices are in US dollars and exclude VAT and sales tax (added at checkout); the pricing page has the details.

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