Invoicing · Updated 2026-10-17

How to Void an Invoice: Void vs Delete vs Credit Note (2026 Guide)

You sent an invoice with the wrong amount. Or the client cancelled the project. Or you accidentally billed twice. Your first instinct is to delete the invoice and pretend it never happened — but that's one of the few bookkeeping moves that can genuinely get you into trouble. Here's how to void an invoice correctly, when to use a credit note instead, and why "just deleting it" is almost always the wrong answer.

What does it mean to void an invoice?

Voiding an invoice means marking it as cancelled while keeping it in your records. The invoice number stays in your sequence, the document stays in your books, but its balance drops to zero — it no longer counts toward your accounts receivable or your income.

This is the key difference from the three options you'll hear about:

• Delete — the invoice disappears entirely, as if it never existed. Fine for an unsent draft, dangerous for anything that was issued.
• Void — the invoice stays on record but is cancelled, with a zero balance. The audit trail remains intact.
• Credit note — a separate formal document that offsets the original invoice. The original invoice stays valid and "open" until the credit note cancels it out.

Voiding is the middle path: more formal than deleting, simpler than issuing a credit note. But it's only the right choice in specific situations.

Void vs delete vs credit note: the decision table

Your action depends on the invoice's status — specifically, whether it was issued and whether money changed hands.

| Invoice status | Correct action | Why | |---|---|---| | Still a draft, never sent to the client | Delete it | It was never issued, posted to your books, or seen by anyone. Deleting a draft is clean and harmless. | | Sent to the client, not yet paid | Void it | The invoice is part of your records now. Voiding keeps the audit trail while zeroing the balance. | | Paid, but you need to undo it (e.g. duplicate billing) | Issue a credit note + refund | Money moved. You need a formal offsetting document and to return the funds — see our guide to how to write a credit note. | | Unpaid and never will be (client gone, won't pay) | Void it, or write it off | If you've given up collecting, void the invoice (or book it as bad debt per your accounting method). Our chasing guide covers when to stop chasing. | | Wrong details (name, amount, VAT), invoice already sent | Credit note, then re-invoice | The cleanest correction: cancel with a credit note referencing the original, then issue a fresh corrected invoice with a new number. |

The golden rule: if the invoice was sent to the client or posted to your accounting records, don't delete it. Deleting an issued invoice creates a gap in your numbering sequence and removes evidence a tax authority may later ask for. Every major accounting platform (Xero, QuickBooks, FreshBooks) either prevents deleting issued invoices or warns you against it for exactly this reason.

For a deeper comparison of the two most confused options, see our credit note vs voiding guide.

How to void an invoice: step-by-step

1. Check the invoice status first

Before anything else, confirm where the invoice stands: draft, sent/awaiting payment, or paid. This determines everything (see the table above). If any payment has been recorded against it — even a partial payment — most accounting tools will block voiding until you remove or reverse the payment first.

2. If it's a draft: just delete or correct it

A draft invoice that never left your hands carries no financial or legal weight. Delete it, or simply correct the details and send it. No void, no credit note, no record needed.

3. If it's sent but unpaid: void it

In your invoicing tool or accounting software, open the invoice and use the "Void" option (sometimes labelled "Cancel" or "Mark as void"). This:

• Changes the invoice status to voided
• Reduces the balance owed to zero
• Removes it from your outstanding receivables and income reports
• Keeps the invoice number in your records — do not reuse the number

If your tool doesn't have a void button (some simple generators don't), replicate the effect manually: keep a copy of the invoice, mark it "VOID" prominently, and record a reversing entry in your books dated the day you voided it.

4. Tell the client

If the client already received the invoice, tell them it's been voided — don't assume they'll notice. A short message works:

"Hi — please disregard invoice INV-1042 dated 1 October. I've voided it; no payment is due. A corrected invoice is attached / will follow."

This prevents the client from paying the wrong amount, or their accounts team from entering the invoice and chasing you for a "credit" months later.

5. Re-invoice if the work still stands

If the invoice was wrong rather than unwanted (wrong amount, wrong line items), issue a brand-new invoice with the next available invoice number — never reuse the voided number. If the tax or accounting implications matter (VAT/GST), the stricter route is a formal credit note plus a new invoice, covered below in the country section.

What to do when the client already paid

This is where voiding alone isn't enough. If money changed hands, there's a transaction history — a payment in your bank account, possibly tax reported on it — that a void can't unwind by itself.

The correct process for a paid invoice you need to undo:

1. Issue a credit note referencing the original invoice number, for the full amount (or the partial amount being adjusted).
2. Process a refund to the client for the same amount, matching the original payment method where possible.
3. Keep all three documents together: original invoice, credit note, and the refund record.

Don't delete or void the paid invoice — that erases the record of the sale and the payment, which breaks your bank reconciliation and can shift income into a period you've already closed. Leave the invoice in place and record the credit note and refund as new transactions dated when they happened.

One nuance: if the invoice was paid but the payment needs to be returned because of a pricing error (not a cancelled sale), issue the credit note for the difference and refund only that difference. Only full-cancel invoices where the entire charge was wrong.

Invoice numbering: what happens to the voided number?

A voided invoice number is retired permanently. It stays in your sequence as a gap, and that's completely fine — numbering gaps caused by voided invoices are normal and expected by auditors.

What you must not do:

• Reuse the number on a new invoice — two documents with one number is exactly the kind of thing that makes an auditor suspicious.
• Renumber your invoices to "close the gap" — your invoice numbers must stay chronological and unique.
• Delete the invoice to reuse the number — same problem, plus you've now hidden the paper trail.

If a client or auditor ever asks about the gap, "INV-1042 was voided on 12 October due to a billing error" is a complete and satisfactory answer — precisely because you kept the record.

Tax compliance: what US, UK, AU, and CA rules say

This is where "just delete it" goes from sloppy to genuinely risky. Tax authorities care less about how you fix an invoice error and much more about whether the fix leaves a traceable trail.

United Kingdom (HMRC)

HMRC requires businesses to keep all invoicing records — original invoices, credit notes, and corrected invoices — for at least six years. If an invoice contains an error, the compliant fix is to issue a credit note referencing the original invoice, then issue a corrected invoice with a new number. Simply editing or deleting the original breaks the audit trail HMRC expects to see. Credit notes reduce your output VAT for the period in which they're issued (and reduce the customer's input VAT), so they need to be reflected in the right VAT return. Small VAT errors under £10,000 can be adjusted on your next return; larger ones have specific disclosure rules — check HMRC's guidance or your accountant if the amount is significant.

Australia (ATO)

The ATO explicitly recognises the "cancel and re-issue" pattern: its GST ruling GSTR 2000/1 describes suppliers cancelling the original tax invoice with a credit note and issuing a new tax invoice showing the new price. The two documents together are treated as an adjustment note, provided they are cross-referenced, and must generally be issued within 28 days of the request or of you becoming aware of the adjustment. The ATO's standard record-keeping requirement is five years, and those records must include the original invoice, the credit note, and the replacement.

United States (IRS)

The IRS doesn't have a specific "void invoice" rule, but federal law (26 U.S. Code § 6001) requires you to keep books and records sufficient to substantiate everything on your tax return — including gross income. Issued invoices are part of that evidence, and the burden of proof is on you. The baseline retention period is three years from the date you filed the return (longer in some cases: six years if income was substantially understated, seven for bad-debt deductions). Deleting issued invoices removes the documentation an auditor would ask for; voiding or credit-noting preserves it.

Canada (CRA)

The CRA requires you to keep all business records and supporting documents — including invoices — for six years from the end of the last tax year they relate to. If you want to destroy records before that period ends, you need the CRA's written permission first (requested with Form T137); destroying them early without permission can lead to prosecution. As with other countries, correcting an issued invoice means issuing a credit note and keeping everything, not deleting.

The common thread across all four: keep the documents, link the correction to the original, and let the record show what happened. When in doubt, ask your accountant — this guide covers the general principles, not your specific tax situation.

Common mistakes when voiding invoices

Voiding instead of credit-noting a paid invoice. Voiding a paid invoice creates reconciliation headaches — the payment still exists in your bank records with no matching document. Paid invoices need credit notes plus refunds.

Deleting an issued invoice to "start fresh." This is the big one. Once an invoice has been sent or recorded, deletion destroys your audit trail and creates an unexplained numbering gap. Delete drafts freely; never delete issued invoices.

Reusing the voided invoice number. Always move forward in your sequence. Reused numbers make your records ambiguous and will raise questions in any review.

Forgetting to tell the client. An unpaid client who never hears the invoice was voided may pay it months later "to be safe," creating a refund chore. A sent-but-unpaid invoice that you voided without telling anyone may also get entered into their system, generating confusion down the line.

Voiding across tax periods without checking. If the invoice was included in a filed VAT/GST return or a closed tax period, voiding it changes figures you've already reported. In that case you almost certainly need a credit note dated in the current period instead, and possibly an adjustment on your next return. Check with your accountant before touching anything in a closed period.

Not recording why. Every void should carry a short reason — "duplicate of INV-1041," "client cancelled project," "wrong hourly rate." Future-you (and any auditor) will thank present-you.

How to avoid voiding invoices in the first place

Voids are usually symptoms of process problems upstream. A few habits that cut them dramatically:

• Send a quote or estimate first for project work, and get written approval before invoicing. Our quote generator makes this quick. Most "wrong amount" voids happen because the price was never agreed in writing.
• Double-check the big three before sending: client name and details, amounts and line items, and the invoice number sequence. Thirty seconds of review beats a void every time.
• Invoice promptly after the work is done. Invoices written up weeks later are the ones with wrong dates, forgotten line items, and duplicate sends. See how to write an invoice for a checklist.
• Use sequential numbering automatically. If your tool assigns the next number for you — as our free invoice generator does — you eliminate duplicate-number voids entirely.