A payment on hold should not remain in open expected collections if it was validly applied to the invoice, but it also should not be treated as available bank cash. Put it in a separate held-settlement status with the amount, processor evidence, owner, and next review date.

Intuit’s payments support hub explains that a recent accepted payment can be held while it is reviewed and distinguishes that state from ordinary deposit timing. Intuit’s deposit guidance separates processed payments from later batch deposits and fee withdrawals.

Separate invoice status from cash availability

An invoice can have payment evidence while the associated funds are not yet available in the operating account. Reopening that invoice automatically can duplicate collection work and expected cash. Treating the held amount as deposited cash can overstate near-term liquidity.

Use three statuses:

  • **Open receivable:** no supported applied payment; the remaining balance can still be forecast.
  • **Paid, settlement pending or held:** payment evidence exists, but bank availability is not observed.
  • **Deposited:** the related bank movement is observed and reconciled.

This structure also makes reversals visible without rewriting history.

Evidence to record

Capture the invoice and payment identifiers, gross amount, payment date, processor status, hold notice date, deposit account, and next review date. If the processor requests action, assign a named owner. Do not invent a release date or assume that a previous settlement pattern applies to the held transaction.

Check whether the invoice was actually paid and whether the hold applies to this payment rather than the merchant account more broadly. Reconcile any later deposit, fee, refund, or reversal to the same record.

The payment-date versus deposit-date guide explains the two timing clocks. The Undeposited Funds guide covers the ordinary accounting-to-bank boundary.

Four-week forecast treatment

Remove the supported applied amount from invoice-level expected collections. Show the held amount separately in the cash bridge, with timing marked unknown unless a reliable processor date exists. Keep it out of available cash until the bank evidence arrives.

If the payment is released, move it to observed deposited cash. If it is reversed or rejected, reassess both the invoice balance and the collection assumption from current records; do not simply restore the old week. The returned-payment guide provides that review path.

Decision rule

Paid is not always deposited, and held is not the same as collectible open AR. Keep the amount traceable in one intermediate state and count it once. Finance teams can view the AR Pulse example to see how an invoice-level source trail supports this separation.