Wrong tax rate on approved invoices and bills: a guide for Xero users

A VAT or GST rate was wrong on a run of approved invoices or bills, and you found out while preparing the return. This guide covers what Xero lets you edit, the bulk recode tool, when a credit note or a return adjustment is the better fix, and what Unapprove adds when documents should come back as drafts.

Checked against Xero Central on 23 October 2026.

What you can change in place

• Approved and unpaid. Xero's page on editing an invoice says an awaiting payment invoice can be edited in any field. Its page on editing bills says the same for a bill with no part-payments or credit notes applied.
• Paid or part-paid invoices. Without removing the payment you can change the contact, due date, number, reference, branding theme, description, account, tracking and project. The tax rate is not on that list, so the payment comes off first.
• Paid bills. Xero is explicit: you can't edit the tax rate once a bill is paid. Remove the payment first.
• Your customer isn't told. If you sent a PDF, send the new version.

Many lines at once: find and recode

Xero's find and recode tool changes the tax rate on many lines in one go. It supports invoices and bills in every status from draft to paid, searches by tax rate (which also finds the affected lines), and needs the administrator role. Xero suggests no more than 200 lines at a time, and a recode can't be undone, only recoded again or edited. Three catches:

• The line total stays put. Xero says the unit amount moves in proportion to the new tax. If the net price was right and the total should change, edit the document instead.
• Locked periods are view-only when a lock date applies to all users, and allocated credit notes are recoded separately (Common issues for find and recode).
• Lines, not documents. Select every line of an invoice.

When a credit note or a return adjustment is better

• The invoice has been sent. Xero's page on deleting or voiding an invoice says to edit one you haven't sent and to issue a credit note for one you have, so you and your customer keep an audit trail. A credit note can cover part or all of the amount outstanding (Create and approve a customer credit note). Then raise the right invoice. The void or credit note guide compares the options.
• The return is filed. Xero's VAT return page says an edited transaction from an earlier period shows as Reversed in the current return, with the new version beside it, and that late claims go into the next return automatically. Its VAT adjustment page shows how to change a box amount on the return alone. Xero's GST page, which describes filing with Inland Revenue, treats edits and voids made after the return is finalised as late claims too. We did not read the Australian BAS pages. Whether to correct the documents or adjust the return is your accountant's call.
• The period is locked. Users can't add or edit transactions dated on or before a lock date, and an administrator can remove it temporarily (Set up or remove lock dates). Ask whoever set it first.

The manual route, step by step

1. Find the documents. Open the transactions by tax rate on the return (GST or the VAT return page above), or run a find and recode search on the tax rate. Note each number, date and contact, and whether it was sent.
2. Check the period. Is the return filed, or the date locked? If so, agree the fix with your accountant first.
3. Check for payments. Remove any payment from a paid document, then re-apply it after the edit.
4. Pick the fix per group. Unsent: edit. Sent: credit note and a new invoice. Many lines: find and recode.
5. Make the change. For an invoice, open Sales > Invoices, open it, click the menu icon, select Edit, change the tax rate on each line and click Update. For a bill, use Purchases > Bills.
6. Run the report again. Check the totals by tax rate.

That is slow at volume: Xero says approved invoices can only be edited or voided one at a time (Approve and send an invoice).

Where Unapprove saves time

Unapprove is a web app that works with Xero. It does not change a tax rate and it does not touch VAT or GST returns. It turns a selection of approved documents into drafts, so you can correct them in Xero's normal editor and approve them again.

• Select. Filter approved sales invoices and bills by date range, contact, number or reference; there is no tax-rate filter. The preview writes nothing.
• Draft copy. Each document becomes a draft with the same number, contact, dates, lines, tax and tracking, and its attachments. The rate on each line is copied as it was, so you still have to change it. A sales invoice's original is renamed with a -V suffix and voided; a bill keeps its number on the copy. Both get a history note.
• You correct, then approve. Fix the rate on each draft; Xero approves several invoices at once from the list.
• Typed confirmation, for example UNAPPROVE 37. The preview offers a CSV backup of the selection to download first.

It fits when the rate is not the only fix, or each document should be approved again as a fresh draft. If only the rate is wrong, find and recode will usually be quicker.

What it skips, and tells you why: documents with a payment applied (why) or a credit note allocated, documents in a locked period (why), and documents for an archived contact (why). For those, use the credit note or the return adjustment. A document with an attachment over 10 MB, or with more than 10 attachments, can only be voided: it gets no draft copy, and the preview says so. For US organisations it only voids and makes no copies. A void is permanent.

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.

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.

Connect and preview free See pricing

By connecting, you agree to the Terms of service and the Privacy policy.

Questions

Related guides

• Unapprove an invoice or bill, one or many: a guide for Xero users
  No unapprove button: the void, copy and re-attach routine, where it stops being practical, and running it on a whole batch.
• Bulk void approved invoices and bills, or delete drafts: a guide for Xero users
  Which documents can be deleted or voided in bulk, which only one at a time, and how to void a batch.
• Download all attachments and receipts: a guide for Xero users
  The one-file-at-a-time routes, what they leave out, and how to get every attachment as dated ZIP folders.
• Bulk unapprove bills: a guide for Xero users
  No unapprove for bills: when to edit instead, the manual route back to draft, and running it on a whole selection.
• Export all receipts and attachments before you cancel: a guide for Xero users
  The notice period, what the exports leave out, a checklist, and how to get every file out with an index.
• Year-end clean-up checklist for duplicate and misposted invoices: a guide for Xero users
  Find duplicates and misposted lines before the lock date, then void or redo a large batch.
• Void paid invoices in bulk: a guide for Xero users
  Remove the payment, then void: the manual steps, what to check first, and doing it for a batch.
• Undo a bad CSV import of invoices: a guide for Xero users
  No undo button: delete the drafts, void or unapprove the approved ones, and what happens to the numbers.
• Write off many invoices and bad debts at once: a guide for Xero users
  The credit-note method, its tax and lock-date catches, and clearing a whole selection with an undo.
• Send invoices and bills from awaiting approval back to draft: a guide for Xero users
  What Xero offers for documents stuck in awaiting approval, and sending a batch back to draft.
• Invoice number already exists? Reuse the number of a voided invoice: a guide for Xero users
  Find which invoice holds the number, why a voided number stays used, the rename-first order, and keeping numbers across a batch.
• Should you void an invoice or issue a credit note? A guide for Xero users
  Edit, void or credit: what Xero says for each case, and what can be done in bulk.
• Repeating invoices approved or sent by mistake: a guide for Xero users
  Fix the template first, then clear what it created, and why a sent email cannot be recalled.
• Duplicate invoices after a Shopify, Amazon, A2X or Link My Books sync: a guide for Xero users
  Why sales syncs post twice, removing the copies by hand, and voiding a whole batch of approved ones.
• Invoices posted twice after a migration or conversion: a guide for Xero users
  Conversion balances, open invoices that came across twice, and clearing the extra copies.
• Duplicate bills from Dext, Hubdoc or the bills inbox: a guide for Xero users
  Xero's duplicate bill review, where it stops with paid bills, and clearing a large batch.
• An app sent invoices or bills in as approved instead of draft: a guide for Xero users
  Change the app setting first, then take what it approved back to draft with the same numbers.
• Delete all invoices, or start over: a guide for Xero users
  No reset button: delete the drafts, void the approved ones, or start a new organisation.
• Move invoices entered in the wrong organisation: a guide for Xero users
  Export from one organisation, import into the other, carry the files across, void the originals.
• Wrong contact on an approved invoice or bill: a guide for Xero users
  What can be edited after approval or payment, what to do when Edit is blocked, and redoing a batch as drafts.
• Void an invoice that has a credit note allocated: a guide for Xero users
  Why the void is blocked, taking the allocation off by hand, what to do with the credit note, and doing it for a batch.
• POS daily sales posted twice: a guide for Xero users
  What Square, Lightspeed, Zettle, Epos Now and SumUp say they post, how a day goes in twice, and how to void the copies.
• Redo a migration whose open invoices and bills landed as approved: a guide for Xero users
  Why migrated documents arrive approved, what the conversion balances need, the manual redo, and redoing a batch with the same numbers.
• Export receipts and supporting documents for an audit: a guide for Xero users
  What Xero exports for an auditor, what it leaves out, and pulling every attached file for a period with a manifest.
• Move bills back to draft, whatever their status: a guide for Xero users
  Awaiting approval, approved or paid: which way back to draft applies, what Xero offers, and moving a batch.
• Pricing · Support