# A payment was taken but not applied

> Why an approved payment may not count toward its invoice, why the invoice is held meanwhile, and how to return the money or apply it.

Source: https://support.billingmart.com/payments/payment-taken-not-applied
Updated: 2026-10-23 · Applies to: Web · Section: Payments & payment links

Sometimes the payment processor approves a payment that the invoice can no longer take. It happens when the balance went down, or the invoice was closed, while the payment was being made. Then the payer's money is taken but nothing counts toward the invoice. The payment shows **Taken, not applied**, and owners and admins get a notice.

Until you resolve it, no new payment can be made on that invoice, by any card, bank account or link. This stops the payer from being charged a second time. The payer is told their payment was taken and that you will return it.

## Before you start

> **Before you start:** You need to be an owner or an admin. Every choice needs a recent sign-in and your second step, the same as a refund.

## Resolve it

1. Open **Payments**. Payments that need attention are listed at the top. Select **Resolve** on the payment, or open its page and select **Resolve** there.
2. Choose what should happen:
   - **Void it now.** Cancels the charge at the processor before it settles, usually the same day. The payer gets all of it back, card fee included.
   - **Refund it now.** Returns all of it, card fee included, once it has settled. If it has not settled yet, the processor refuses and nothing changes. Void it instead.
   - **It was already returned in the gateway portal.** Say whether the portal shows a void or a refund. BillingMart asks the processor and records it only if the processor shows it. If the processor's answer has no date at all, only the owner can record it, with a note of what they checked.
   - **Apply it to the invoice.** Only when the invoice owes all of it again. It then counts like any other payment, and the payer gets a receipt.
3. Select **Resolve**.

Once the money is returned or the payment is applied, the invoice can be paid again.

## What happens next

- **The payment** stays **Failed**, with a caption saying it was returned and never applied. Nothing is added to the books, because nothing was applied.
- **A return the owner recorded** without the processor's date shows **Returned on the owner's word**. The daily reconciliation replaces that once the processor shows the date.
- **The processor does not answer** a void or refund. The payment shows **Return sent, not confirmed** and the invoice stays held. Do not repeat it. The daily reconciliation records it once the processor shows it.
- **The processor refuses** a void or refund. Nothing changes, and the window says why.

See [Refund or void a payment](https://support.billingmart.com/payments/refunds-and-voids.md) for refunds of payments that were applied.