Troubleshooting
Role: Administrator · Bookkeeper · Office AdminArea: Accounting · All business types
What you're seeing
An invoice shows a negative balance on the AR Management screen — the invoice is in credit rather than at $0 or owing. This can happen to a single invoice or a few, and it keeps the customer's AR from reconciling cleanly.
Why this happens
A negative balance means more value was applied to the invoice than it was worth.
There are 3 common reasons.
Reason 1
An overpayment was applied to the invoice.
A payment larger than the invoice total was applied to it, pushing the balance below $0.
Reason 2
The invoice has negative tasks.
Negative tasks on the invoice push its total below $0.
Reason 3
A task on an adjustment invoice created the negative balance.
A task added to an adjustment invoice drove the adjustment invoice's balance below $0.
How to fix it
Run these checks in order, matching the one that fits how the negative balance was created.
1The negative balance came from an overpayment
Use this if a payment larger than the invoice total was applied to it.
Unapply the payment from the invoice. This moves the payment to the customer profile as available credit. (See Unapply a payment or credit from a specific invoice.)
Go to the customer profile and click the More icon at the top right.
From the dropdown, select Collect Payment.
On the Collect and Apply Payments screen, select Credits and choose the payment.
In the Apply to Invoice section, select the invoice, then click Save.
✓ Done · The payment fills the invoice's remaining balance, and any extra stays on the customer profile as credit — clearing the negative balance.
Note: Checks 2 and 3 clear a negative balance by creating a credit and, in Check 3, a negative payment. If your account uses the Automated Refund Workflow and you're resolving a refund, ServiceTitan can create the credit memo and negative payment for you, so you may not need the manual steps in those checks. The Automated Refund Workflow applies only to payments that have not yet been exported to your accounting system. Check 1 is a misapplied-payment fix, not a refund, and isn't affected.
2The negative balance came from negative tasks on the invoice
Use this if negative tasks on the invoice pushed its total below $0.
Create an adjustment invoice and add a positive task to bring the invoice balance to $0. (See Create an adjustment invoice.)
Create a payment through the customer profile for the amount you want held as credit.
If the payment type is Credit Card, click the down arrow on the Charge option and select Save without Charging.
✓ Done · The invoice balance is $0, and the amount stays on the customer profile as available credit.
3The negative balance is on an adjustment invoice
Use this if a task on an adjustment invoice created the negative balance.
Go to the adjustment invoice causing the issue.
Add and apply a payment with a negative payment amount to the adjustment invoice. This clears the adjustment invoice's balance.
Go to the invoice with the open balance and click Collect and apply payment.
Add a positive payment for the open balance amount you want to apply, then click Save.
✓ Done · The adjustment invoice is cleared and the open invoice is paid down, leaving balances correct.
Still not working?
If the negative balance remains after the matching check, contact ServiceTitan Technical Support at go.servicetitan.com/ask with:
The invoice number(s) and customer name
The current balance shown and how the negative balance was created (overpayment, negative task, or adjustment invoice)
Which check from this article you tried
Whether any of the invoices are posted or exported
Want to learn more?
Unapply a payment or credit from a specific invoice ›
Move a misapplied payment off an invoice and back to the customer profile as credit.
Create an adjustment invoice ›
Add an adjustment invoice to correct a balance.
Invoice shows unpaid on the AR report but paid on the customer profile ›
Resolve an invoice whose AR report status doesn't match the customer profile.
Set up the automated refund workflow ›
Configure ServiceTitan to create credit memos and negative payments automatically.