Manage accounts payable in one place. In this guide, you’ll learn how to view supplier invoices, create and approve Payment Runs (batch payments), track statuses, handle failures, and reconcile payments with Xero.
Important: Dext Payments is only available for Xero-integrated UK clients.
Key concepts
What are Supplier invoices?
Supplier invoices are the vendor bills pulled across from Xero, where there is an outstanding balance and awaiting payments. These are the invoices your business needs to review, approve, and pay. They’re the starting point for Payment Runs, so you can pay one or many invoices in a single workflow.
What are employee expenses?
Employee expenses are expense bills and mileage claims captured and sent to Dext. Once submitted, they can be grouped into an Expense claim that can be published to your accounting software (for example, Xero), and converted into bills that appear in the purchase ledger. These bills can then be paid through Dext Payments using the same payment run workflow as supplier invoices.
For step-by-step guidance on paying employee expenses, see Dext Payments: Employee expense payments in Dext.
What is a payment run?
A Payment Run lets you group one or more supplier invoices, or employee expenses (Expense claims), and pay them together in one batch. This saves time and can reduce transaction fees. You can also run a Payment Run for a single invoice when needed.
View supplier invoices
Go to Payments > Supplier invoices in Dext.
Eligible invoices and employee expense bills will appear automatically:
All invoices in Xero with an outstanding balance and awaiting payment are shown.
If a due date is available in Xero, it will be pre-populated.
You can also set a planned payment date if needed. If a planned date is available in Xero, it will be synced automatically. Any changes made to the planned date in Dext Payments will be updated back to Xero.
You can flag an invoice for review and add a note by clicking the notes icon.
If the invoice originated in Dext, you can click the invoice icon to view the invoice.
You can check the last sync time at the top of the page.
Supplier invoices are automatically synced when you access the page. This automatic sync will only run if a manual sync has not taken place within the last 15 minutes.
You can also click the Sync button at any time to manually refresh the data.
Invoice sections
Due – Invoices ready to pay with an outstanding balance
Pending – Payment runs created but not yet completed
Paid – Fully paid invoices with a zero balance
Summary overview (in Due)
Total amount outstanding – Total payable across all invoices (after credits)
Unallocated balance – Credit notes, prepayments, or overpayments not yet applied
Invoices not included – Invoices awaiting approval or not yet published to Xero
Customise and review invoice details
The table can be tailored to what you care about most.
Click the Gear icon to choose columns such as:
Supplier, Reference, Date, Due date, Planned date, Due amount, Total amount
Update fields directly from the table:
Planned date – When you plan to pay (useful for cash‑flow planning)
Flags – Use the flags available on the Dext Payments > Supplier invoices page under the section to mark invoices that need review before payment
Notes – Add context or instructions for your team
Filter your list: Use the Filters panel to narrow results by Supplier, Reference, Invoice/Due/Planned date (custom ranges or presets like Last 7/30 days), and Amount (total or due range).
Security checks with Shields
You’ll see a Shield icon next to each invoice. Hover to view the security checks run on supplier details extracted from the invoice. If a potential risk is detected, you’ll get warnings and recommended actions.
Click the invoice to open the full view and review:
The invoice image (when available)
The supplier’s bank details
Shield recommendations
Data sources:
Invoices created or uploaded in Dext typically include the original document image along with extracted data such as the supplier name, invoice number, and bank details.
Invoices originating from Xero will not include a preview image, and some supplier details may not be available for extraction. If bank details are available in Xero, we will attempt to extract and pre-populate them. If supplier details cannot be extracted and bank details are not available in Xero, you will have the option to enter the bank details manually.
Manage supplier details with Shields:
Select the Shield icon > Manage to:
Add alternate supplier bank details, or
Delete existing supplier details
If details can’t be extracted automatically, you can enter them manually from the Shield menu.
Tip: Review Shield warnings before paying to reduce the risk of rejected or misdirected payments. See the Supplier Shields guide.
Create a payment run
Select one or more invoices from Payments > Supplier invoices.
Click Pay selected.
Choose your funding wallet (GBP Wallets only).
Invoices are automatically grouped by supplier, reducing transaction costs and saving time by minimising the number of items to review and approve.
(Optional) You can choose to ungroup the invoices by toggling the Batch option.
Select the Shield icon against any invoice to see the supplier image (if available) and security recommendations. See also the Supplier Shields guide.
Review your draft Payment Run, including any fees.
Choose how much to pay:
Pay in full – Settle the full balance of each selected invoice
Pay partially – Pay part now and leave the remainder due
Click Create payment run to confirm.
Note: A single payment run can include up to 50 suppliers, with a maximum of 200 invoices per supplier.
Approve a payment run
Important: Only authorised users (e.g., Payment Admins or Standard Users in your approval workflow) can approve or reject payment runs in Dext or the Dext mobile app. Approvers are notified by email and mobile push notifications.
Approvers can:
Approve or reject (add a reason)
Modify the payment reference
Remove specific invoices from the payment run
Add notes for context (won’t reset approvals)
See also the Payment run approval workflow guide.
Edit a payment run
You can edit a payment run before submission:
Remove invoices
Update payment references
Important: Once submitted, the Payment run is locked and can’t be changed. Approvers can edit the payment run in the Dext mobile app when they receive a push notification requesting approval.
Submit a payment run
A payment run can be submitted for processing:
Once all approvals are complete and there are sufficient funds in the wallet, an authorised user can submit the payment run. Strong Customer Authentication (SCA) will be required.
If there are insufficient funds, an error message will prompt you to top up the wallet. After funding the wallet, the payment can be submitted by an authorised user, and SCA will be required again at that point.
Track payment run status
Post creation, payment runs can be tracked under Payments > Payment runs.
A payment run, once created, will transition through various processing statuses before completion, namely:
Status | What it means |
Awaiting approval | Created and waiting for one or more assigned approvers. |
Approval rejected | One or more approvers declined the run. |
Ready to pay | Fully approved and validated, with sufficient wallet funds. |
Authorising | Verifying the submitter’s identity and authorisation. |
Processing | Submitted to the provider and is being processed. |
In progress | Accepted by the provider and executing/settling. |
Execution failed | Reached provider/bank but failed during execution (e.g., invalid bank details, insufficient balance). |
Failed | Couldn’t be processed before execution (e.g., API error, compliance block, validation failure). |
Partially successful | Some payments in the batch succeeded; others failed or were rejected. |
Successful | Executed and confirmed by the provider or bank. |
Cancelled | Manually cancelled before submission or execution. |
Failed supplier payments in Dext Payments
If a payment fails, it will appear on the Payment runs page with the failure reason (for example, bank rejection or insufficient funds), and you’ll also receive an email notification.
Depending on the reason for failure, you can:
In some cases, resubmit the payment request (for example, in cases of insufficient funds or temporary network issues), or
Create a new payment run to submit the payment run again.
Currencies & payment methods
Currently, payment runs support UK domestic payments only.
In the future, Dext Payments will support multi-currency payments, including automatic FX conversion where applicable. You'll also be able to transfer funds between wallets to manage different currencies.
Payment reconciliation (Xero)
Once a payment run is sent for processing, Dext automatically records the payment against the invoice in Xero in real time.
It also creates the corresponding bank feed automatically, ensuring a smooth and efficient reconciliation process.
See also the Bank feeds for Dext Payments guide.
Cancel a payment run
You can cancel a payment run before submission. Once a run has been submitted for processing, it can’t be cancelled.
View audit history
Every payment run includes a complete audit trail, including:
Creation and edit events
Approval and submission timestamps
Processing statuses and outcomes
Failures, retries, and resubmissions
Audit logs give you full transparency and traceability.
Best practices
Sync regularly so new invoices appear promptly, and totals stay accurate.
Review shields and resolve any warnings before you pay.
Set up approval workflows so the right people can review and approve runs.
Check roles & permissions to ensure users have access to Payments and approvals.
FAQs
Can I pay just one invoice?
Can I pay just one invoice?
Yes. Create a payment run with a single invoice and complete the flow as usual.
How many suppliers and invoices can I include in a single payment run?
How many suppliers and invoices can I include in a single payment run?
A single payment run can include up to 50 suppliers, with a maximum of 200 invoices per supplier. If you need to pay more suppliers or invoices, you’ll need to create additional payment runs.
How often should I sync invoices?
How often should I sync invoices?
Sync anytime from Supplier invoices to pull the latest Awaiting Payment invoices from Dext and Xero.
What happens if there aren’t enough funds in a wallet?
What happens if there aren’t enough funds in a wallet?
The run stays queued until you fund the wallet. An authorised user can then submit it for processing.
Does every invoice show an image?
Does every invoice show an image?
Invoices created or uploaded in Dext usually include the document image. Invoices from Xero/other integrations may not include images and can have limited extracted data.
How do I resolve syncing errors between Dext and Xero?
How do I resolve syncing errors between Dext and Xero?
A syncing error occurs when payment information in Dext Payments and Xero becomes out of sync. You can refer to the following article for more details.
Payments videos
Payments in Dext: End-to-End setup: Payment runs for accounting teams |
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Payments in Dext: Managing roles and permissions | |
Payments in Dext: Navigating the dashboard |
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Payments in Dext: Reconciliation in Xero |
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Payments in Dext: Building approval workflows |
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Payments in Dext: Making your first payment |
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Payments in Dext: Adding supplier bank details | |
Payments in Dext: Funding your wallet |
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