Once a payment claim has been sent, the retention card on the contract page offers two further actions: Close Payment Claim and Revert Payment Claim. They sit side-by-side and look similar, but they mean very different things — closing finalises the claim, reverting withdraws it.
This article is a companion to Creating a Payment Claim and walks through:
When to close vs when to revert
Closing a payment claim
Reverting a payment claim
What each action affects — at a glance
Effect on a linked Xero invoice
Undoing a mistake
Jurisdictional differences (UK vs AU/NZ)
When to close vs when to revert
The two actions exist for different situations:
Close the claim when it has run its course — the retention has been paid out in full, or you've reached a settlement with the contractor on a final figure. Closing is the natural last step in the claim's lifecycle.
Revert the claim when it was sent in error, or needs to be re-issued with corrected details. Reverting withdraws the claim as if it had never been sent, and lets you raise a fresh one in its place.
Note: Neither closing nor reverting sends an email to the contractor. If the contractor needs to be told the claim has been settled or withdrawn, send that note separately.
Closing a payment claim
From the contract page, open the retention card for the portion you're closing (Practical Completion or Defects). Once a claim has been sent on that portion, a Close Payment Claim button (or Close Balance on UK workspaces) appears alongside the other claim actions.
Clicking it opens a short dialog with one field — Reason for Closing. The reason is required and is shown in the contract's activity log. Typical reasons include "Paid in full", "Settled at agreed figure", or "Written off — see file note".
Click Close Payment Claim (or Close Balance) at the bottom of the dialog to confirm. Retention Track will:
Mark the claim as resolved, with today's date stamped as the closing date.
Save the reason against the claim record.
Set the outstanding balance for that portion to zero — so the retention card no longer shows an unclaimed amount on the PC or Defects line.
Record a "Payment Claim Closed" entry in the contract's activity log.
The status pill on the claim then changes to Resolved (green). A closed claim is final — you cannot send a fresh claim of the same type on the contract once it's closed, and the Close button itself is no longer offered.
Note: Closing does not change the underlying retention figures (withheld, released, used) on the contract. Those are calculated from invoices, payments and journals — not from the claim record. What closing does is mark the unclaimed balance for that portion as fully resolved, so the contract page treats the matter as finished.
Reverting a payment claim
From the same retention card, click Revert Payment Claim (or Revert Payment Reminder on UK workspaces). A short dialog asks for a Reason for Reverting. Filling it in is recommended for your own audit trail, but the field is not strictly required.
Click Revert Payment Claim (or Revert Payment Reminder) at the bottom of the dialog to confirm. Retention Track will:
Mark the claim as reverted, with today's date stamped as the revert date.
Save the reason against the claim record (if you provided one).
Void the linked Xero invoice, if one was created from the claim — see Effect on a linked Xero invoice below.
Record a "Payment Claim Reverted" entry in the contract's activity log.
The status pill on the claim then changes to Reverted (red). The Send Payment Claim button becomes available again immediately, so you can send a fresh claim for that portion with the corrected details. The reverted claim itself stays on file as part of the audit trail — it isn't deleted.
Note: A claim that has already been closed can still be reverted, in case a closing was made in error. The reverse is not true — you cannot close a claim that has been reverted, because the claim is no longer treated as active.
What each action affects — at a glance
| Close | Revert |
Status badge on the claim | Resolved (green) | Reverted (red) |
Reason field | Required | Optional |
Outstanding balance for that portion | Set to zero — claim treated as fully resolved | Returns to the underlying retention balance from invoices and payments — the claim is no longer counted |
Withheld / Released / Used figures | Unchanged | Unchanged |
Linked Xero invoice (if any) | Left as-is — payment progress continues to flow from it | Voided in Xero automatically |
Retention payments recorded against the claim | Kept on file, attached to the closed claim | Kept on file, attached to the reverted claim |
Activity log entry | "Payment Claim Closed" | "Payment Claim Reverted" |
Email to contractor | None sent | None sent |
Can send a fresh claim of the same type afterwards? | No — closing is the final step | Yes — the Send Payment Claim button becomes available again |
Effect on a linked Xero invoice
If you raised a Xero invoice from the claim (via Create Xero Invoice on the retention card), the two actions behave differently:
Closing the claim does not touch the Xero invoice. The invoice stays as-is in Xero — open, paid, or partially paid — and payment progress against the claim continues to be inferred from the invoice's Amount Paid. This is appropriate when the invoice has been settled and the claim is being closed as resolved.
Reverting the claim automatically voids the linked Xero invoice. Retention Track calls Xero on your behalf and sets the invoice's status to VOIDED. If the invoice was already voided in Xero, nothing happens — the action is safe to run either way.
Note: Xero will not let you void an invoice that has payments applied to it. If the linked invoice has already been part-paid, reverting the claim will fail at the Xero step and the invoice will be left untouched — you'll need to reverse the payment in Xero first, or close the claim and start a fresh contract record instead. Reach out to support if you're not sure which path is right.
If you're unsure whether a claim has a Xero invoice linked, look at the retention card — a green Xero invoice created badge sits next to the claim number when one is attached.
Undoing a mistake
There is no dedicated "un-close" or "un-revert" button. The path back depends on what you did:
If you closed a claim by mistake
Revert the closed claim. This will move it from Resolved to Reverted, free the contract up so you can send a new claim of the same type, and — importantly — void any Xero invoice that was created from the original claim. From there, raise a fresh claim with the right details and (if needed) create a new Xero invoice for it.
If you reverted a claim by mistake
There is no "un-revert" — instead, send a fresh claim of the same type with the same figures. The reverted claim stays on file in the contract's history, and the new claim takes its place as the active one. If the original had a Xero invoice linked, that invoice was voided when you reverted; you'll need to use Create Xero Invoice on the new claim to raise a replacement.
Note: Both the original (closed or reverted) claim and the new replacement claim stay visible in the contract's activity log and history. Nothing is deleted from Retention Track — the audit trail is preserved either way.
Jurisdictional differences (UK vs AU/NZ)
The mechanics are identical everywhere — only the button labels and dialog titles differ:
| AU and NZ | UK |
Close action label | Close Payment Claim | Close Balance |
Revert action label | Revert Payment Claim | Revert Payment Reminder |
Wording in dialog | "payment claim" | "payment reminder" (close uses "balance") |
Everything else — the reason field, the status pill, the activity log, and the effect on a linked Xero invoice — works the same way across jurisdictions.