[Due for payment 2026-02-03] Scan split - Wrong violation on the scan split preview when it fails (Missing merchant)

[jponikarchuk]

If you haven’t already, check out our contributing guidelines for onboarding and email contributors@expensify.com to request to join our Slack channel!

---

Version Number: 9.3.3-2
Reproducible in staging?: Yes
Reproducible in production?: No
If this was caught during regression testing, add the test name, ID and link from BrowserStack: https://test-management.browserstack.com/projects/2219752/folder/13176944/test-cases/41237731
Email or phone of affected tester (no customers): N/A
Issue reported by: Applause Internal Team
Bug source: Regression TC Execution
Device used: MacBook Air 15.7.3 Chrome, iPhone 15 iOS 26.1
App Component: Money Requests

Action Performed:

1. Sign in to ND
2. Create a group chat with two other existing accounts, send a message in the chat
3. Split a scan expense in the group chat, uploading an image, that will fail the scan
4. When the scan is finished, observe the split preview in the group chat

Expected Result:

"Review required" violation is displayed on the failed scan split preview

Actual Result:

"Missing merchant" violation is displayed on the failed scan split preview

Workaround:

Unknown

Platforms:

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

Screenshots/Videos

1.mp4

View all open jobs on GitHub

Issue Owner

Current Issue Owner: @sonialiap / @bfitzexpensify

[melvin-bot]

Triggered auto assignment to @sonialiap (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.

[melvin-bot]

Triggered auto assignment to @luacmartins (DeployBlockerCash), see https://stackoverflowteams.com/c/expensify/questions/9980/ for more details.

[melvin-bot]

💬 A slack conversation has been started in #expensify-open-source

[github-actions]

👋 Friendly reminder that deploy blockers are time-sensitive ⏱ issues! Check out the open `StagingDeployCash` deploy checklist to see the list of PRs included in this release, then work quickly to do one of the following:

1. Identify the pull request that introduced this issue and revert it.
2. Find someone who can quickly fix the issue.
3. Fix the issue yourself.

[OSBotify]

Investigation Summary

Classification: Frontend bug
Causing PR: #79197 - "[BETA] Allow zero-amount expenses - ROUND 5" by @Gonals (High confidence)
Related Issues: None

Recommendation: REVERT

The PR removed critical logic for handling failed SmartScan receipts in split expenses. This is a regression affecting the core expense flow and should be reverted.

Labels: Keeping DeployBlockerCash (App deploy is blocked) - this is a Frontend bug requiring an App PR fix

Detailed Analysis

Evidence

PR #79197 modified /home/runner/work/App/App/src/libs/TransactionPreviewUtils.ts by removing the logic that checks when both amount and merchant are missing (which happens when SmartScan fails).

Before the PR (lines 259-267):

if (hasFieldErrors && RBRMessage === undefined) {
    const merchantMissing = isMerchantMissing(transaction);
    const amountMissing = isAmountMissing(transaction);
    if (amountMissing && merchantMissing) {
        RBRMessage = {translationPath: 'violations.reviewRequired'};
    } else if (amountMissing) {
        RBRMessage = {translationPath: 'iou.missingAmount'};
    } else if (merchantMissing) {
        RBRMessage = {translationPath: 'iou.missingMerchant'};
    }
}

After the PR (lines 259-264):

if (hasFieldErrors && RBRMessage === undefined) {
    const merchantMissing = isMerchantMissing(transaction);
    if (merchantMissing) {
        RBRMessage = {translationPath: 'iou.missingMerchant'};
    }
}

The PR removed the check for amountMissing entirely, including the case where both amount and merchant are missing (which is what happens when SmartScan fails).

Verification

• The PR modifies /home/runner/work/App/App/src/libs/TransactionPreviewUtils.ts, which is directly responsible for determining what violation message to display on transaction previews
• The PR was merged on 2026-01-15T13:30:11Z, which aligns with when staging deploy 9.3.3-2 was created
• The bug only reproduces on staging (not production), confirming it was introduced by a recent PR
• The reported issue specifically states the bug occurs with "split a scan expense...that will fail the scan" - exactly the scenario affected by removing the amountMissing && merchantMissing check

Root Cause

When a scan fails (SmartScan cannot read the receipt), both the merchant and amount fields are missing. Previously, this specific case was detected and would show "Review required" violation.

PR #79197's goal was to allow zero-amount expenses (behind a beta flag), so it removed checks for isAmountMissing. However, it inadvertently broke the logic for failed scans by removing the special case handling for when BOTH fields are missing, which should show "Review required" instead of just "Missing merchant".

[luacmartins]

@Gonals I can reproduce on an account not in the beta, so this particular part of the code is not behind the beta. That said, I think this is a minor issue (the transaction is indeed missing a merchant because the scan failed). So I think we can demote this one.