Several 2026 changes in Xero can stop an integration working or change how it behaves. For most Australian businesses the important ones are: apps that billed you through Xero moved to their own billing by 1 July 2026; Australian payroll integrations must send a new "qualifying earnings" setting from 10 September 2026; credit notes got new screens on 13 July 2026, and Xero is tightening how apps allocate them; and some older API features were switched off or put on notice. Below is each change in plain English, who it affects, the warning signs, and a 10-minute check you can run today. We checked everything against Xero's own pages in late October 2026.
This post doesn't repeat Xero's new developer pricing plans. Those are covered in Xero's 2026 API pricing and your integrations.
The 2026 changes at a glance
- 4 May: Xero switched off its Accounting Activities API (account usage, lock history and user activity data).
- 15 June: profit and loss reports requested by apps are limited to 1,000 tracking columns.
- 1 July: apps could no longer bill customers through Xero App Store Subscriptions.
- 13 July: the old credit notes screens were retired.
- 10 September: Australian payroll integrations must send the "qualifying earnings" setting on earnings rates and pay items.
- October: Xero announced it will enforce matching contacts when apps allocate credit notes, prepayments and overpayments.
- Coming up: classic expense claims endpoints (February 2027 on Xero's changelog) and older app permissions (by 13 September 2027).
Sources: Xero's developer changelog, pricing and policy FAQ and credit notes update.
App billing moved out of Xero (1 July 2026)
What it is. Some App Store apps used to bill you through Xero, so the charge appeared on your Xero invoice. Xero retired that billing system. Its FAQ told app companies to move every customer to their own billing by 1 July 2026, and said Xero couldn't pass card details on to them. For most people, that meant entering payment details again, directly with the app.
Who is affected. Anyone who paid for an app through their Xero bill. Apps you already paid directly aren't affected.
Signs it bit you.
- An app shows a "subscription ended" or "add payment details" message.
- An app stopped syncing around the start of July, even though Xero still shows it connected.
- The app company's emails about moving your billing went to someone who has since left.
What to check. For each paid app, confirm who bills you now, that the subscription is active, and that the billing contact still works in the business. If an app stopped syncing in July, check its billing before looking for a technical fault.
Payroll: the new "qualifying earnings" setting (10 September 2026)
What it is. To support Payday Super, Xero added a setting to Australian earnings rates and pay items that says whether a payment counts as qualifying earnings for super. Since 10 September 2026, any app that creates or updates earnings rates or pay items must include it. If it's missing, or doesn't agree with the item's existing super setting, Xero rejects the request.
Who is affected. Businesses where another system sets up pay items in Xero Payroll: rostering and timesheet apps, award interpretation tools, labour hire systems and custom payroll integrations. Integrations that only send timesheets against existing pay items are less likely to be affected.
Signs it bit you.
- A new allowance or penalty rate set up in your rostering system never appeared in Xero.
- A "validation error" or "400" in the app's sync log mentioning earnings rates or pay items.
What to check. Ask each payroll app vendor or developer whether they updated for this change. In Xero, review your earnings rates and confirm the qualifying earnings setting is right for each, because it now feeds super. Our Payday Super checklist for Xero and MYOB covers the wider payroll setup.
Credit notes: new screens and stricter allocations (July and October 2026)
What it is. Two separate changes. Xero rebuilt its credit notes screens to match invoices and retired the old version on 13 July 2026. In the new version, a paid credit note can't be edited until its payments or allocations are removed. Xero's announcement doesn't mention any change for apps. Then in October 2026, Xero announced that when an app allocates a credit note, prepayment or overpayment to an invoice or bill, both must belong to the same contact. Requests that don't match are refused.
Who is affected. Staff who process credit notes, and any integration that applies credit notes or prepayments to invoices: job systems, online store connectors, debtor tools and custom builds.
Signs it bit you.
- Credit notes arriving in Xero but sitting unallocated, so customer balances look wrong.
- Sync errors about contacts not matching.
- Duplicate customer contacts, with the credit note under one and the invoice under the other. This is the usual cause.
What to check. Run aged receivables and look for unallocated credit notes. Sort contacts by name and look for near-duplicates. Fixing duplicate contacts usually fixes the allocation errors too.
Classic expense claims (on notice)
What it is. Xero replaced its original expense claims with Xero Expenses in 2018; only businesses already using the old version kept it. Xero's changelog says it will disable the old ExpenseClaims endpoint and deprecate the Receipts endpoint, with the date shown as February 2027. At least one reporting tool vendor told its customers access would end in late May 2026. We couldn't find that earlier date on Xero's own pages, so check with your vendor.
Who is affected and what to check. Only businesses still on classic expense claims, where an app or report reads them. If expense figures went missing from a dashboard, this is a likely cause. Plan the move to Xero Expenses, which records claims as bills, and point any expense reports at bills instead.
Smaller changes worth knowing about
- Accounting Activities API (off since 4 May 2026). Some practice and benchmarking tools used it. Blank activity or audit data in a tool is the likely sign.
- Profit and loss tracking limit (15 June 2026). An app asking for a profit and loss split by tracking categories gets an error if the combinations go over 1,000 columns. For example, 50 jobs by 25 departments is 1,250 columns. If a job or department dashboard started failing in June, check this.
- Older app permissions (by 13 September 2027). Xero is replacing broad app permissions with narrower ones. Older custom integrations will need updating by your developer and reconnecting by someone in your business.
Check your Xero connections in 10 minutes
You need a Xero user who can manage connected apps. Xero's menus move from time to time; if yours look different, search Xero Central for "connected apps".
- Open the list. In Xero, click your organisation name, choose Settings, then Connected apps. Write down every app listed.
- Mark each one. Is it still used, and what does it send or read? Disconnect anything nobody uses.
- Billing. For each paid app, confirm who bills you and that the subscription is active.
- Payroll apps. Note anything that sets up pay items, and ask whether it handles qualifying earnings.
- Credit notes. Run aged receivables, look for unallocated credit notes, and check for duplicate contacts.
- Sync logs. Open each app's error log and look for failures since May. One repeated error often explains a total that doesn't match.
- Custom builds. Write down who built each one, whose account it runs under and who can reconnect it. You'll need this before September 2027.
- Notices. Check that vendor and developer emails go to an address someone reads.
If it all checks out, add a short integration check to your month-end routine so the next change is caught early.
When it's worth getting help
If you only use mainstream App Store apps and the checks came back clean, the app companies handle most of this; just watch their emails.
It's worth getting help when a custom integration's builder has moved on, when the checks turned up sync errors, unallocated credit notes or missing pay items and you can't tell how far back they go, or when several systems feed Xero and nobody has a full list. That's the pattern on our integrations that only half work page.
Our Xero and MYOB integration repair service finds what broke, fixes it and cleans up the affected records. For a wider look at how your systems and processes fit together, the $5,000 Process & Systems Audit maps it all and gives you a written report. Background: our Xero and MYOB integration and migration guide.
The technical side (for whoever looks after your systems)
- Payroll: IsQualifyingEarnings is required on create and update for AU Earnings Rates and Pay Items. If true, Pay Items need IsExemptFromSuper false and Earnings Rates need IsSubjectToSuper true. Omitting it returns a 400.
- Allocations: check the ContactID matches on both documents before allocating. Xero says not to retry an unchanged request; it will keep failing.
- Scopes: accounting.transactions splits into accounting.invoices, accounting.payments, accounting.banktransactions and accounting.manualjournals; accounting.reports.read splits into individual report scopes.
Frequently asked questions
Why is a Xero app asking me to subscribe again?
Most likely because Xero stopped billing for apps. App companies had to move customers to their own billing by 1 July 2026, and Xero couldn't pass card details across, so many customers had to re-enter them. If you're unsure an email is genuine, log in through the app's own website rather than the link.
My timesheet app stopped creating pay items in Xero. Is that the Payday Super change?
It may be. Since 10 September 2026, Xero rejects new or updated Australian pay items and earnings rates that don't say whether they're qualifying earnings for super. Check the sync log for a validation error and ask the vendor whether they've updated.
Do I need to do anything about the 2027 changes now?
Not urgently. But find out now who built each custom integration and who can reconnect it, because older integrations will need updating and reconnecting before 13 September 2027.
Not sure what's connected to your Xero?
If the check raised more questions than answers, we can work through it with you. Book a free initial chat and we'll talk through what connects to your Xero and what, if anything, needs fixing.