[Due for payment 2025-11-19] [$250] Reports - When unapproved expense has empty merchant, Pay button is shown instead of Approve

[lanitochka17]

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Version Number: 9.2.34-0
Reproducible in staging?: Y
Reproducible in production?: Y
If this was caught during regression testing, add the test name, ID and link from TestRail: https://test-management.browserstack.com/projects/2219752/test-runs/TR-1374/folder/13176923/41237529/962798112
Email or phone of affected tester (no customers): dsjiosjndossdj3o@gmail.com
Issue reported by: Applause - Internal Team

Action Performed:

1. Go to staging.new.expensify.com
2. Go to workspace chat
3. Create a scan expense with receipt that will fail the scanning
4. Open the transaction thread
5. Click Amount
6. Enter amount and save it
7. Click Submit
8. Go to Reports > Approve

Expected Result:

The report row will show Approve action button because the report is not approved

Actual Result:

The report row shows Pay action button when the report is not approved
This issue happens when the expense has empty merchant

Workaround:

Unknown

Platforms:

Select the officially supported platforms where the issue was reproduced:

• Android: App
• Android: mWeb Chrome
• iOS: App
• iOS: mWeb Safari
• iOS: mWeb Chrome
• Windows: Chrome
• MacOS: Chrome / Safari
• MacOS: Desktop

Platforms Tested:

On which of our officially supported platforms was this issue tested:

• Android: App
• Android: mWeb Chrome
• iOS: App
• iOS: mWeb Safari
• iOS: mWeb Chrome
• Windows: Chrome
• MacOS: Chrome / Safari
• MacOS: Desktop

Screenshots/Videos

Add any screenshot/video evidence

Bug6979831_1760967976361.12.mp4

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Upwork Automation - Do Not Edit

• Upwork Job URL: https://www.upwork.com/jobs/~021983301014240543211
• Upwork Job ID: 1983301014240543211
• Last Price Increase: 2025-10-28
• Automatic offers:
• truph01 | Reviewer | 109344550

Issue Owner

Current Issue Owner: @truph01

[melvin-bot]

Triggered auto assignment to @brianlee-expensify (Bug), see https://stackoverflow.com/c/expensify/questions/14418 for more details. Please add this bug to a GH project, as outlined in the SO.

[samranahm]

Proposal

Please re-state the problem that we are trying to solve in this issue.

Reports - When unapproved expense has empty merchant, Pay button is shown instead of Approve

What is the root cause of that problem?

Approve is hidden when hasOnlyPendingTransactions is true, so the Pay button becomes visible. For failed-scans with empty merchant, this flag can still be true after manual edits.

App/src/components/MoneyReportHeader.tsx

Lines 369 to 374 in 4d1a0f7

	const shouldShowPayButton = isPaidAnimationRunning || canIOUBePaid || onlyShowPayElsewhere;
	const shouldShowApproveButton = useMemo(
	() => (canApproveIOU(moneyRequestReport, policy, transactions) && !hasOnlyPendingTransactions) || isApprovedAnimationRunning,
	[moneyRequestReport, policy, transactions, hasOnlyPendingTransactions, isApprovedAnimationRunning],
	);

What changes do you think we should make in order to solve the problem?

We should show Approve when the report is approvable. And disable Approve if scanning is still pending. And Hide Pay whenever Approve is shown.

    const shouldShowApproveButton = useMemo(
        () => canApproveIOU(moneyRequestReport, policy, transactions) || isApprovedAnimationRunning,
        [moneyRequestReport, policy, transactions, isApprovedAnimationRunning],
    );

    const shouldDisableApproveButton = shouldShowApproveButton && (!isAllowedToApproveExpenseReport(moneyRequestReport) || hasOnlyPendingTransactions);

    // Hide Pay if Approve is visible; Approve takes precedence for unapproved reports.
    const shouldShowPayButton = !shouldShowApproveButton && (isPaidAnimationRunning || canIOUBePaid || onlyShowPayElsewhere);

What alternative solutions did you explore? (Optional)

Reminder: Please use plain English, be brief and avoid jargon. Feel free to use images, charts or pseudo-code if necessary. Do not post large multi-line diffs or write walls of text. Do not create PRs unless you have been hired for this job.

[bernhardoj]

Proposal

Please re-state the problem that we are trying to solve in this issue.

Pay button is shown instead of approve for unapproved expense with missing either merchant or amount.

What is the root cause of that problem?

The pay button shows because canIOUBePaid returns true.

App/src/libs/SearchUIUtils.ts

Lines 1173 to 1177 in b685520

	const canBePaid = canIOUBePaid(report, chatReport, policy, allReportTransactions, false, chatReportRNVP, invoiceReceiverPolicy);
	if (canBePaid && !hasOnlyHeldExpenses(report.reportID, allReportTransactions)) {
	allActions.push(CONST.SEARCH.ACTION_TYPES.PAY);
	}

canIOUBePaid is true because canApproveIOU is false.

App/src/libs/actions/IOU.ts

Lines 10083 to 10094 in b685520

	const shouldBeApproved = canApproveIOU(iouReport, policy, transactions);
	const isPayAtEndExpenseReport = isPayAtEndExpenseReportReportUtils(iouReport ?? undefined, transactions);
	return (
	isPayer &&
	!isOpenExpenseReport &&
	!iouSettled &&
	!iouReport?.isWaitingOnBankAccount &&
	reimbursableSpend > 0 &&
	!isChatReportArchived &&
	!isAutoReimbursable &&
	(!shouldBeApproved || !shouldCheckApprovedState) &&
	!isPayAtEndExpenseReport

canApproveIOU is false because every transaction (only 1 in this case) is partial transaction.

App/src/libs/actions/IOU.ts

Lines 10009 to 10012 in b685520

	const hasOnlyPendingCardOrScanningTransactions = reportTransactions.length > 0 && reportTransactions.every(isPendingCardOrScanningTransaction);
	if (hasOnlyPendingCardOrScanningTransactions) {
	return false;
	}

App/src/libs/TransactionUtils/index.ts

Lines 279 to 281 in b685520

	function isPendingCardOrScanningTransaction(transaction: OnyxEntry<Transaction>): boolean {
	return (isExpensifyCardTransaction(transaction) && isPending(transaction)) || isPartialTransaction(transaction) || (isScanRequest(transaction) && isScanning(transaction));
	}

App/src/libs/TransactionUtils/index.ts

Lines 265 to 277 in b685520

	function isPartialTransaction(transaction: OnyxEntry<Transaction>): boolean {
	const merchant = getMerchant(transaction);
	if (!merchant || isPartialMerchant(merchant)) {
	return true;
	}
	if (isAmountMissing(transaction) && isScanRequest(transaction)) {
	return true;
	}
	return false;
	}

What changes do you think we should make in order to solve the problem?

We can submit the expense with only the amount even though the merchant is missing, so we can remove the check for partial transaction for approve action, just like we did for the money report header primary action.

App/src/libs/ReportPrimaryActionUtils.ts

Lines 116 to 137 in b685520

	const isAnyReceiptBeingScanned = reportTransactions?.some((transaction) => isScanning(transaction));
	if (isAnyReceiptBeingScanned) {
	return false;
	}
	const currentUserAccountID = getCurrentUserAccountID();
	const managerID = report?.managerID ?? CONST.DEFAULT_NUMBER_ID;
	const isCurrentUserManager = managerID === currentUserAccountID;
	if (!isCurrentUserManager) {
	return false;
	}
	const isExpenseReport = isExpenseReportUtils(report);
	const isApprovalEnabled = policy?.approvalMode && policy.approvalMode !== CONST.POLICY.APPROVAL_MODE.OPTIONAL;
	if (!isExpenseReport || !isApprovalEnabled || reportTransactions.length === 0) {
	return false;
	}
	if (reportTransactions.length > 0 && reportTransactions.every((transaction) => isPending(transaction))) {
	return false;
	}

Notice that we only checks for scanning and pending state, no partial.

(we can just copy the condition from isApproveAction)

[melvin-bot]

@brianlee-expensify 6 days overdue. This is scarier than being forced to listen to Vogon poetry!

[melvin-bot]

Job added to Upwork: https://www.upwork.com/jobs/~021983301014240543211

[melvin-bot]

Triggered auto assignment to Contributor-plus team member for initial proposal review - @truph01 (External)