# Deleting Payments Source: https://docs.astalty.com.au/guide/finance/payments/deleting > Remove a payment recorded in error and return the outstanding balance to the invoices it was allocated to. ## Overview If a payment was recorded in error - the wrong amount, the wrong date, or a payment that never should have been entered - you can delete it. Deleting a payment removes every allocation it made, so each invoice it was allocated to is recalculated without it. Where that leaves an invoice short, the uncovered amount goes back to being owed. If the payment itself is correct but you allocated it to the wrong invoices, you don't need to delete it. Use **Clear Allocations** instead, which keeps the payment and lets you allocate it again - see [Clearing allocations instead of deleting](#clearing-allocations-instead-of-deleting) below. > **Payments synced from Xero or MYOB cannot be deleted** > > If a payment came into Astalty from Xero or MYOB, it cannot be deleted or edited in Astalty. See [Payments synced from Xero or MYOB](#payments-synced-from-xero-or-myob) below for what to do instead. ## Who can delete a payment Deleting a payment requires access to the **Finance** module. There is no separate delete permission - the same access that lets a user view and create payments also lets them delete one. By default, this is available to **Admin** and **Manager** roles. Team Members and Support Workers do not have Finance access. Finance access can also be turned off for an individual Admin or Manager, so if the Payments page isn't visible to someone who should have it, check their user permissions. ## Deleting a payment Go to [Payments](https://app.astalty.com.au/finance/payments) in the Finance section and click the payment you want to delete. ![The Payments page with Finance highlighted in the main menu, Payments highlighted in the Finance menu, and a Plan payment row highlighted in the list, showing its Date, Type, Reference, Amount and Allocated amount.](https://docs.astalty.com.au/assets/deleting-payments-open-the-payment.png) Click **Delete** in the top right of the **Payment** card, then confirm when asked *Are you sure you want to delete this Payment?* ![A Plan payment open on its Payment card, with the Delete button highlighted at the top right beside Edit, above the payment Details, the Allocated Amount and Payment Amount of $478.27 and the Documents card.](https://docs.astalty.com.au/assets/deleting-payments-delete-button-guide.png) Astalty returns you to the Payments list, and the deleted payment no longer appears there. > **Deleting a payment can't be undone** > > There is no undo and no archive to restore from. If you delete a payment by mistake, you will need to create it again and re-enter its allocations, so check you have the right payment open before you confirm. ## What happens to the invoice When you delete a payment, Astalty removes each of its allocations and recalculates the paid amount on every invoice and charge that payment touched. Only that payment's share comes off - any other payments allocated to the same invoice are left exactly as they are. What you see on the invoice afterwards depends on whether it is still covered in full: - **No longer covered in full** - the amount this payment was covering reappears as **Amount Due** on the invoice and in the **Outstanding** column on the Invoices page. The status changes from **Paid** to **Awaiting Payment**, or to **Overdue** if the invoice is already past its due date. Where other payments still cover part of the total, only the uncovered remainder shows as due. - **Still covered in full** - if other payments already add up to the invoice total, nothing on the invoice changes. It stays **Paid** with no amount due. Invoice totals never change when you delete a payment. Astalty always calculates an invoice total from the charges on it, so removing a payment only affects what has been paid against that total. Every payment allocated to an invoice is listed in the **Payments** card on that invoice, so if you have the invoice open you can click straight through to the payment from there. ![An invoice open in its drawer, marked Paid with no Amount Due in the Summary, and an arrow pointing to the highlighted Payments card below it, which lists a payment of $478.27 dated 02/11/2026.](https://docs.astalty.com.au/assets/deleting-payments-invoice-payments-card.png) ## Payments synced from Xero or MYOB Astalty imports payments from Xero or MYOB against eligible invoices that have been synced there. These payments are read-only in Astalty. Deleting a payment in Xero or MYOB removes its Astalty allocation on the next successful payment check. Changing an existing payment's amount, date or reference in Xero or MYOB does not update the imported Astalty payment. See [Reconciling Payments in Xero](https://docs.astalty.com.au/guide/integrations/xero-integration/reconciling-payments-in-xero) and [Reconciling Payments in MYOB](https://docs.astalty.com.au/guide/integrations/myob-integration/reconciling-payments-in-myob) for the supported workflow. For a payment that came from Xero or MYOB, you cannot: - Delete it - Edit its date, amount or reference - Clear its allocations - Change what it is allocated to on an individual invoice Clicking **Delete** on one of these payments opens an information dialog titled **Cannot Delete Payment**, reading *This payment has been synced with your accounting platform and cannot be deleted. Please delete it there first.* **To remove it,** delete or reverse the payment in Xero, or delete it in MYOB. On the payment detail page, **View in Xero** goes straight to the Xero transaction, and **View in MYOB** opens MYOB's invoice list filtered to the payment's invoice. The next time Astalty syncs that invoice, it removes the allocation and the payment from Astalty for you - you don't need to come back and delete anything by hand. ## Clearing allocations instead of deleting **Clear Allocations** removes everything a payment is allocated to, but keeps the payment itself. Invoice balances are restored exactly as they are when you delete the payment, and the payment stays in your Payments list ready to be allocated again. Use **Clear Allocations** when the payment is genuine but went to the wrong invoices. Use **Delete** when the payment should not exist at all. To clear allocations, open the payment and click **Clear Allocations** in the top right of the **Allocations** card, below the payment's details. The button only appears when the payment has an amount allocated and the payment did not come from Xero or MYOB. Once the allocations are cleared, the **Allocated Amount** on the payment returns to $0.00 and the outstanding invoices are listed again so you can enter the correct amounts. For a walkthrough of allocating a payment, see [Plan and Self Managed Payments](https://docs.astalty.com.au/guide/finance/payments/plan-and-self-managed). > **NDIA managed payments** > > NDIA managed payments are allocated at charge level by applying a receipt file rather than by entering amounts against invoices - see [Reconciling NDIA Payments](https://docs.astalty.com.au/guide/finance/payments/reconciling-ndia). > > **Clear Allocations** works the same way on these payments: it undoes the allocations that applying the results file created, so you can apply a corrected file. Note that removing the results file on its own does **not** remove allocations that have already been applied - the dialog says as much when you remove it. Clear the allocations as well if you want to start over. ## Reversing a write-off A write-off in Astalty is recorded as an ordinary payment, so it is reversed the same way - delete the payment, or set its allocation against the invoice back to $0.00, and the outstanding amount returns to the invoice. The same applies if **Mark as Paid** was used on an invoice by mistake. See [Writing Off an Unpaid Balance](https://docs.astalty.com.au/guide/finance/payments/writing-off-an-unpaid-balance). > **Deleting a payment does not change your accounting system** > > If you record payments in Xero, MYOB or another accounting package as well, deleting a payment in Astalty does not remove it there. Payments flow from Xero or MYOB into Astalty, not the other way around, so make the matching correction in your accounting system yourself.