Bills - Flag a Bill as 'in dispute / query'
Ability to flag individual bills as in dispute
Purpose | To enable review and ensure the business does not make payment for a bill when it's currently 'under query'

Hi community, we acknowledge the strong feelings in this idea and why you need a feature to flag bills directly within Xero. We really appreciate all your feedback and the detailed explanations of how this would help streamline your accounts payable.
We are dedicated to providing a solution for this over the longer term, but this will take some time requiring changes that sit beneath the face of bills.
In lieu of a direct feature for this we wanted to highlight some of the options discussed by the community here:
- Add a note to the bill: A detailed note on the bill itself can serve as a clear internal reminder of the dispute.
- Utilise tracking categories: Creating a specific tracking category like "Disputed Bills" can help you filter and report on these items.
- Adjust the due date: Temporarily extending the due date can prevent accidental payment while the dispute is being resolved.
- Update the reference to add a notation such as [reference number] - Do not pay
- Adjust the planned date to be very far out in the future
We know these options won't fit all needs here, and we are invested in continuing to develop Purchase and more specifically bills in Xero to suit your needs.
We'll continue to provide updates with any progress that steps closer to enabling you to flag bills that are in dispute in Xero. Thank you for continuing to engage and share insights through this idea.
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Sacha Pettitt commented
I've got to say - "We'd like to confirm from a bills side of things that this is not something we have plans to develop at this time" is an incredibly poor Customer Service attitude.
This is part of the fundamentals of running a purchase ledger. It's not a nice to have, or optional, it's vital.
Just another nail in the coffin for our strategic view on accounting software choice. -
Molly Crookall commented
I agree I hate the new Bills update its so much harder to read, doesn't feel clean and tidy.
Love the automate bill entry which if it was there before I never noticed but put the old layout back! Please do not touch Invoices!!!! -
Freya Pieroz commented
@Lynn the workaround I've been using is to add the reason why it's in dispute to the bill reference, because that shows up when I'm reviewing a batch payment. Doesn't help if the bill reference is really long, but it's helped save me a few times :-)
(example from a couple of weeks ago: " - query ANZAC Day" because the bill showed a contractor as working on a public holiday, which was outside the scope of the contract)
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Bethany Mence commented
Also agree new layout of bills is much less user friendly!
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Luke Abbott commented
The latest update was very aptly described by a colleague : "This new 'accessibility' update has now made it possible for even more Xero customers to see which functions are lacking!"
@Xero, when will you realise people are screaming out for a "Focus on functional" rather than "Building on beautiful"!!
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Julia Bastin commented
New bills layout is horrible and clunky, the compact view is not compact. PLEASE DONT do this to the invoices layout too. Horrible and unnecessary "upgrade" that seems to be designed to make us think you are actually doing something, yet useful ideas, totally ignored. Frustrating in the extreme.
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Adele Hewitson commented
agreed New bills layout was not needed and is worse than before get on with the stuff people actually need!
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Lynn Davidson commented
Agreed about the new layout. Its awful
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Louise Bagatelas-Allen commented
There has been a new Bills layout - but not what is needed!
And the new Bills layout is worse than the old one - massive text, bold text, busy screen - horrible! -
Lucy Barker commented
I logged direct with Xero as to why after so many comments this still hadn't been actioned (at first I was told this was a new idea and that I should add to this product idea site) and below is the response;
We receive large volumes of wide ranging requests from our customers, which are all regularly reviewed, analysed and prioritised by our product team.
A rarely submitted feature request might be superb and very valuable but may be competing against a common request that may be perceived to be less valuable. We do try to take all elements into consideration.
The reason we don't make our Development Plan public is so that we can retain flexibility regarding features included in releases. We do mention some planned features on our blog, but as others are more susceptible to change, we'd rather under-promise and over-deliver than vice versa.
We really hope you understand the complexities involved and don't feel we're ignoring you even though the features you've requested aren't immediately included. We also hope you continue to submit your feedback, suggestions, frustrations and comments as this really does help us to improve Xero.
Feels like an automated response to me.
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Ildiko Mora commented
It seems that the Xero support team is not taking us seriously when as loyal costumers we are requesting an improvement to the system with regards to the disputed bills. However we got a new " bill " layout which seems to be more important. I would very much like to know what number of votes this thread require in order to be taken seriously ?
Or we will only be taken seriously when we are moving to a different software !
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Lynn Davidson commented
Flagging in dispute invoices would be great. The only way we can get round this is to add the word in dispute into the invoice number field which isnt idea. Just an option to add a flag somewhere would be a game changer for us
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Darren Porter commented
To have this as an option is upmost importance. As a small business cashflow is key and paying potentially disputed invoices causes issue. Having it as an option in the same way as awaiting approval etc would be of great use.
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Sharon Evans commented
Still cant believe a simple request to have an invoice flagged as in dispute cant be implemented. Not a fan of Xero at all from day one of using it, much prefer Sage.
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Sharron Betts commented
Being able to flag and add a note for disputed invoices would be ideal.
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Molly Crookall commented
100% this is needed as sometimes invoices get approved then something gets highlighted and I'm asked not to pay so a feature to highlight this would be so useful.
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Trevor Courtney commented
“We're still interested to get a clearer understanding of users that'd like to see this developed for bills,…”
Do you have a clear understanding yet?
Last month I lost nearly $1800 USD because a bill got paid that was in dispute. Take some action.
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Ildiko Mora commented
Hi Kelly, can you please clarify for all of us how many votes does this conversation needs in order for Xero to implement this ? Many thanks
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Tanya Burke commented
This is a basic feature of many accounting packages, and the fact it has been highlighted by so many, but not implemented is very disappointing. Xero is very much behind the market in this respect.
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Rebecca Rotheram commented
The sheer volume of comments and votes on this thread I am shocked that XERO is not looking at this. It is a basic accounts function
A tick box to mark 'on hold'