[Due for payment 2026-03-06] [BUG] Travel invoicing is toggled on even when `OpenPolicyTravelPage` returns nothing

[rlinoz]

More context: https://expensify.slack.com/archives/C05S5EV2JTX/p1771529425447029?thread_ts=1771528962.822579&cid=C05S5EV2JTX

[mukhrr]

Proposal

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

When OpenPolicyTravelPage returns an empty onyxData: [] response, previously cached card settings (including paymentBankAccountID and isEnabled) persist in the Onyx store, which causes the Central Invoicing toggle to incorrectly display as enabled even though the server has no active travel invoicing configuration.

What is the root cause of that problem?

In openPolicyTravelPage, the optimistic data uses Onyx.METHOD.MERGE with only {isLoading: true}, which merges on top of any existing (stale) card settings without clearing them.

App/src/libs/actions/TravelInvoicing.ts

Lines 16 to 52 in e611de9

	function openPolicyTravelPage(policyID: string, workspaceAccountID: number) {
	const optimisticData: Array<OnyxUpdate<typeof ONYXKEYS.COLLECTION.PRIVATE_EXPENSIFY_CARD_SETTINGS>> = [
	{
	onyxMethod: Onyx.METHOD.MERGE,
	key: `${ONYXKEYS.COLLECTION.PRIVATE_EXPENSIFY_CARD_SETTINGS}${workspaceAccountID}`,
	value: {
	isLoading: true,
	},
	},
	];
	const successData: Array<OnyxUpdate<typeof ONYXKEYS.COLLECTION.PRIVATE_EXPENSIFY_CARD_SETTINGS>> = [
	{
	onyxMethod: Onyx.METHOD.MERGE,
	key: `${ONYXKEYS.COLLECTION.PRIVATE_EXPENSIFY_CARD_SETTINGS}${workspaceAccountID}`,
	value: {
	isLoading: false,
	},
	},
	];
	const failureData: Array<OnyxUpdate<typeof ONYXKEYS.COLLECTION.PRIVATE_EXPENSIFY_CARD_SETTINGS>> = [
	{
	onyxMethod: Onyx.METHOD.MERGE,
	key: `${ONYXKEYS.COLLECTION.PRIVATE_EXPENSIFY_CARD_SETTINGS}${workspaceAccountID}`,
	value: {
	isLoading: false,
	},
	},
	];
	const params: OpenPolicyTravelPageParams = {
	policyID,
	};
	API.read(READ_COMMANDS.OPEN_POLICY_TRAVEL_PAGE, params, {optimisticData, successData, failureData});
	}

When the API responds with empty onyxData: [], the SaveResponseInOnyx middleware has nothing to write, and the client-side successData only merges {isLoading: false} — leaving the stale paymentBankAccountID (and/or isEnabled) untouched. The toggle state is derived from getIsTravelInvoicingEnabled(cardSettings) which returns true whenever isEnabled is truthy or paymentBankAccountID exists, so the stale data keeps the toggle ON.

App/src/libs/TravelInvoicingUtils.ts

Lines 48 to 66 in e611de9

	function getIsTravelInvoicingEnabled(cardSettings: OnyxEntry<ExpensifyCardSettings>): boolean {
	const settings = getTravelSettings(cardSettings);
	if (!settings) {
	return false;
	}
	// If isEnabled is explicitly set, use that value
	if (settings.isEnabled !== undefined) {
	return settings.isEnabled;
	}
	// For backward compatibility: if isEnabled is undefined but we have a payment account,
	// assume it was enabled before the isEnabled field existed
	// This prevents false positives from just having loading state
	if (settings.paymentBankAccountID && settings.paymentBankAccountID !== CONST.DEFAULT_NUMBER_ID) {
	return true;
	}
	// No explicit isEnabled and no payment account - not enabled

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

1. In openPolicyTravelPage, change the optimistic data from Onyx.METHOD.MERGE to Onyx.METHOD.SET. This replaces any stale card settings with just {isLoading: true} when the page opens, ensuring that if the API returns empty data, no stale state remains to incorrectly activate the toggle. When the server does return data, SaveResponseInOnyx will populate the fresh values before successData merges {isLoading: false} on top.
   

   App/src/libs/actions/TravelInvoicing.ts

   Lines 17 to 25 in e611de9

   	const optimisticData: Array<OnyxUpdate<typeof ONYXKEYS.COLLECTION.PRIVATE_EXPENSIFY_CARD_SETTINGS>> = [
   	{
   	onyxMethod: Onyx.METHOD.MERGE,
   	key: `${ONYXKEYS.COLLECTION.PRIVATE_EXPENSIFY_CARD_SETTINGS}${workspaceAccountID}`,
   	value: {
   	isLoading: true,
   	},
   	},
   	];

--- a/src/libs/actions/TravelInvoicing.ts
+++ b/src/libs/actions/TravelInvoicing.ts
@@ -16,7 +16,7 @@
 function openPolicyTravelPage(policyID: string, workspaceAccountID: number) {
     const optimisticData: Array<OnyxUpdate<typeof ONYXKEYS.COLLECTION.PRIVATE_EXPENSIFY_CARD_SETTINGS>> = [
         {
-            onyxMethod: Onyx.METHOD.MERGE,
+            onyxMethod: Onyx.METHOD.SET,
             key: `${ONYXKEYS.COLLECTION.PRIVATE_EXPENSIFY_CARD_SETTINGS}${workspaceAccountID}`,
             value: {
                 isLoading: true,

[ishpaul777]

This happens because the workspace has a Settlement Bank Account for the Expensify Card at the root level (cardSettings.paymentBankAccountID). Currently, our logic falls back to using this root ID if cardSettings.TRAVEL_US is missing, which treats Travel Invoicing as enabled.
https://github.com/Expensify/App/blob/main/src/libs/TravelInvoicingUtils.ts#L59-L65

i think we should strictly check for cardSettings.TRAVEL_US.paymentBankAccountID and not fall back to the root cardSettings.paymentBankAccountID.

@MelvinBot can you please create a PR fixing this

[MelvinBot]

📋 Draft PR created: #83248

What changed: getTravelSettings() no longer falls back to root-level cardSettings when TRAVEL_US is missing. This prevents root-level paymentBankAccountID (the Expensify Card settlement account) from being misinterpreted as Travel Invoicing being enabled.

Please mark it as "Ready for review" when it is ready for review.