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Kelsey Kobayashi
Level 2

How to remove the red "needs attention" alert in the invoices section of the dashboard? We have handled w/ customer. QB said to wait

It's January 2024 and this bug still exists.

Kelsey Kobayashi
Level 2

How to remove the red "needs attention" alert in the invoices section of the dashboard? We have handled w/ customer. QB said to wait

Did not work for me.

Coolit
Level 1

How to remove the red "needs attention" alert in the invoices section of the dashboard? We have handled w/ customer. QB said to wait

It is June 2024, has there been a resolve to this issue yet?

Coolit
Level 1

How to remove the red "needs attention" alert in the invoices section of the dashboard? We have handled w/ customer. QB said to wait

It is now June 2024, has anyone found a fix?

JanbonN
QuickBooks Team

How to remove the red "needs attention" alert in the invoices section of the dashboard? We have handled w/ customer. QB said to wait

I'm here to share details about the needs attention alert on your invoices, @Coolit.

 

The needs attention alert is a sign that the payment link to the invoice has some issue that needs to be addressed. It cannot be removed directly until the underlying issue is resolved.

 

To remove this alert, we'll have to unlink the payment to the invoice, create a Journal Entry (JE), and link the JE to the unapplied payment. Allow me to elaborate further.

 

First, let's turn off the automatically apply credits in the settings for the unapplied payment to not apply.

 

  1. Go to the Gear icon and select Account and settings.
  2. Choose the Advanced tab and click Automation.
  3. Toggle off the Automatically apply credits button.
  4. Click Save and Done.

 

Second, let's unlink the payment to the invoice.

 

  1. Go to Sales and select Invoices.
  2. Click the invoice that has the needs attention message. An invoice summary will pop up.
  3. Click the View payment link. This will route you to the Receive Payment page.
  4. Untick the payments in the Outstanding Transactions.
  5. Click Save and close. A message prompt will appear. Click Yes.

 

Third, let's create a JE for the payment to be returned to the bank.

 

  1. Go to +New and select Journal entry.
  2. Choose Accounts Receivable (A/R) for the first line and the bank account you used for the payments for the second line.
  3. Debit the payment amount to AR and credit it to the bank account.

 

Fourth, let's link the Journal entry with the unapplied payment.

 

  1. Go to +New and select Receive payment.
  2. Choose the customer in the dropdown.
  3. Tick the JE we created and the unapplied payment in the Credits section.
  4. Click Save and close.

 

After following the steps above, you can now manually record the payment for the invoice through the receive payment feature.

 

Additionally, you can refer to this article about personalizing your invoices: Customize invoices, estimates, and sales receipts in QuickBooks Online.

 

Let us know if you have other concerns with your invoices. We'll be here to help you in any way we can.

brandyv
Level 2

How to remove the red "needs attention" alert in the invoices section of the dashboard? We have handled w/ customer. QB said to wait

Because the IRS really likes it when you delete invoices! This is idiotic. If the people at Intuit don’t think the IRS will review the audit log and question deleted invoices, they need some lessons in accounting. Also, we (as I’m sure many others do) close the books at month end. So any transactions with failed payments that overlap month end can’t be deleted anyway. The only correct and reasonable solution is for Intuit to add a checkbox to clear the alert. Why they refuse this solution continues to baffle me.

NUTS2
Level 1

How to remove the red "needs attention" alert in the invoices section of the dashboard? We have handled w/ customer. QB said to wait

TWO YEARS LATER AND THIS PROBLEM HAS NOT BEEN FIXED. I HATE QUICKBOOKS BECAUSE OF THIS ISSUE.

NUTS2
Level 1

How to remove the red "needs attention" alert in the invoices section of the dashboard? We have handled w/ customer. QB said to wait

TRUTH

CCBI
Level 1

How to remove the red "needs attention" alert in the invoices section of the dashboard? We have handled w/ customer. QB said to wait

DELETE THE PAYMENT!!

 

You don't have to delete the invoice! Delete the payment and replace it with a new one.

You still have to deal with the issue of the chargeback and possibly dummy invoices and second payments.

But delete the DEPOSIT.

Then delete the payment -- needs attention goes away.

Then create a new payment ... apply to invoice... create deposit... etc....

accounting@somdf
Level 2

How to remove the red "needs attention" alert in the invoices section of the dashboard? We have handled w/ customer. QB said to wait

This problem has been going on since 2022 and still continues to be a problem in 2024. Why can't this be resolved?

accounting@somdf
Level 2

How to remove the red "needs attention" alert in the invoices section of the dashboard? We have handled w/ customer. QB said to wait

That is an awful lot of work, for something that you could fix, so we didnt literally have to do 20 things

accounting@somdf
Level 2

How to remove the red "needs attention" alert in the invoices section of the dashboard? We have handled w/ customer. QB said to wait

That doesnt work - quickbooks now deletes the payments themselves and issues the alert! That alert stays there forever!

KBM Bookkeeper
Level 1

How to remove the red "needs attention" alert in the invoices section of the dashboard? We have handled w/ customer. QB said to wait

For anyone who has spent half a day tearing their hair out over this (like I have, 4 calls to QBO help line later and still no resolution!), here is the solution I used that cleared the dispute message for a bounced payment:

1. When the bounced payment withdrawal is taken back out of the account, create an expense using the customer's name and the accounts receivable account to match to the withdrawal.

2. Change the payment that later bounced, to match to the new expense. The original invoice will go back to showing being due.

3. Once the bounced payment is resolved and final payment is made, match that payment against the original invoice. 

All four of these transactions show under the same customer and at this point the error message has disappeared, my BS and P&L are accurate, and I can finally go take a walk

Best of luck!

BGJ
Level 1

How to remove the red "needs attention" alert in the invoices section of the dashboard? We have handled w/ customer. QB said to wait

Today is Feb 7, 2025 and this is STILL an issue! In our case, the husband of a client didn't recognize our company name and disputed the transaction with his CC company. But to our knowledge, the amount was never taken back from our account. The appropriate paperwork was filed with QBO after the consultant talked with the wife. But the red "needs attention" and "disputed" transaction remains. In the case of a 2nd customer, we have no idea why that one is marked in the same way. She's happy with the product and service. We've not seen money "bounce" back. 

 

I'm going on record with others - QUICKBOOKS - ADD A RESOLVED/CLEARED button so we don't have to do accounting gymnastics that are NOT best practices!! PLEASE!!

AlverMarkT
QuickBooks Team

How to remove the red "needs attention" alert in the invoices section of the dashboard? We have handled w/ customer. QB said to wait

I hear you, @BGJ. I understand resolving the Needs Attention error notifications on your invoices can pose a challenge. Your workflow needs to be as smooth as possible, and I get that these lingering alerts can be a real hurdle. I'm chiming in to point you in the right direction to get your situation addressed.

 

The Needs Attention error for disputed transactions will continue to show as long as the failed payment is tied to an invoice, and as you pointed out and with other Community members who replied in this thread, we'll have to do accounting workarounds since situations like disputed payments require manual intervention currently.

 

The software should accommodate various business needs by adding an efficient option for a resolved or cleared button for disputed customer payments. I encourage sending your feedback to our Product Engineers to consider adding this option in the future:

 

  1. Go to the Gear icon.
  2. Select Feedback.
  3. Enter your comments and suggestions.

 

Regarding the invoice linked to the second customer that also shows the Needs Attention error, I recommend contacting our Live Support team for assistance.  They can access your account in a secure environment, assist you in conducting further research, and create an investigation ticket if needed.

 

  1. Go to the Help (?) option.
  2. Choose the Search tab.
  3. Select Contact Us.
  4. Click on Customer and vendor payments.
  5. Pick Chat with us, Schedule appointment, or Have us call you.

 

For future reference or once this is resolved, I'm adding this guide about matching transactions in QBO: Confirm suggested matches for bank transactions in QuickBooks Online.

 

Addressing these persistent alerts is crucial, and your feedback plays an essential role in improving QuickBooks. If there are details or other questions you'd like to add, feel free to click on the Reply button. We're committed to offering ongoing support.

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