Expense - Tax rate section is missing when merging expenses when Reports tab is opened

[jponikarchuk]

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Version Number: 9.3.37-0
Reproducible in staging?: Yes
Reproducible in production?: N/A - new feature, doesn't exist in prod
If this was caught during regression testing, add the test name, ID and link from BrowserStack: #83587
Email or phone of affected tester (no customers): jsoidjsojniodnjiojs@gmail.com
Issue reported by: Applause Internal Team
Bug source: Exploratory - Significant User Experience Deterioration
Device used: Mac 26.2 / Chrome
App Component: Money Requests

Action Performed:

1. Go to staging.new.expensify.com
2. Create a new account.
3. Create two workspaces and enable Taxes for both workspaces.
4. Go to Reports tab (IMPORTANT).
5. Go to Inbox.
6. Go to workspace chat A.
7. Create an expense with 0% tax rate.
8. Go to workspace chat B.
9. Create an expense with 5% tax rate.
10. Open the expense (can be any from Step 7 or 9).
11. Click More > Merge.
12. Select the other expense > Continue.

Expected Result:

Tax rate section will be shown.

Actual Result:

Tax rate section is missing when merging expenses when Reports tab is opened.

Workaround:

Unknown

Platforms:

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

Screenshots/Videos

Video.mp4

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Issue Owner

Current Issue Owner: @dominictb

[melvin-bot]

You have been assigned to this deploy blocker because you recently merged this PR: #83587

[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: #83587 - "[Merge] Merge tax rates v2" by @dominictb (High confidence)
Related Issues: None

Recommendation: REVERT

The PR introduced a regression where tax rate section is missing when merging expenses outside of Search context (e.g., when navigating from Reports tab). This is a clear regression from the new tax merge functionality and reverting will restore the previous working state while the fix is developed.

Labels: No label changes made (keeping DeployBlockerCash as this is a frontend bug)

📋 Detailed Analysis

Evidence

The bug occurs specifically when:

1. User navigates from Reports tab (not Search tab)
2. Creates expenses with tax rates in workspace chats
3. Attempts to merge those expenses

The tax rate section appears when merging from Search tab but is missing when merging from Reports tab.

Root Cause

The issue is in the interaction between useMergeTransactions hook and SearchContext:

1. Line 78 in src/hooks/useMergeTransactions.ts:

   if (currentSearchHash && currentSearchResults?.data) {

   This condition checks if the user is on a search page before fetching policy data from search results.

2. When NOT on Search tab:

   • currentSearchHash is -1 (default value from SearchContext line 111)
   • The condition evaluates to false (since -1 is falsy in JavaScript)
   • Policy data (targetTransactionPolicy and sourceTransactionPolicy) remains undefined

3. Line 232 in src/libs/MergeTransactionUtils.ts:

   if (field === 'taxValue' && (!targetTransactionPolicy?.tax?.trackingEnabled || !sourceTransactionPolicy?.tax?.trackingEnabled)) {
       continue;
   }

   When policies are undefined, the expression undefined?.tax?.trackingEnabled evaluates to undefined (falsy), causing the entire tax field to be skipped.

4. Result: Tax rate section never appears in the merge UI when navigating from Reports tab.

Verification

Files affected by the bug:

• src/hooks/useMergeTransactions.ts (lines 78-84) - Policy data not loaded outside search
• src/libs/MergeTransactionUtils.ts (line 232) - Tax field skipped when policies undefined

Confirmed PR modifies these files:

• ✅ src/hooks/useMergeTransactions.ts - Added policy loading logic
• ✅ src/libs/MergeTransactionUtils.ts - Added tax merge logic with policy check

Timeline alignment:

• PR merged: 2026-03-12
• Bug reported: 2026-03-13 (version 9.3.37-0)
• Bug is staging-only (new feature doesn't exist in prod)

The bug is a direct result of PR #83587's new policy-dependent tax merge logic not accounting for non-search navigation contexts.