Time expense - Tax fields are shown for time expense

[mitarachim]

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Version Number: 9.3.58-0
Reproducible in staging?: Yes
Reproducible in production?: No
If this was caught during regression testing, add the test name, ID and link from BrowserStack: #84769
Email or phone of affected tester (no customers): jsdjosidjiojisojio3@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:

Precondition:

• Enable Taxes and Time tracking in workspace settings > More features.

1. Go to staging.new.expensify.com
2. Go to workspace chat.
3. Click + > Create expense > Time.
4. Create a time expense.
5. Open the time expense.
6. Click Tax field.

Expected Result:

In Step 4, after creating time expense, "Tax no longer valid" violation will not appear on the expense preview.
In Step 5, Tax fields should be hidden for time expenses.

Actual Result:

In Step 4, after creating time expense, "Tax no longer valid" violation appears briefly on the expense preview.
In Step 5, Tax fields are shown for time expenses.
In Step 6, the pop-up shows Tax disabled when Tax is enabled and it does not support time expenses.

Workaround:

Unknown

Platforms:

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

Screenshots/Videos

Bug7126613_1775816626176.3.mp4

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[melvin-bot]

You have been assigned to this deploy blocker because you recently merged this PR: #84769

[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.

[MelvinBot]

Proposal

What is the root cause of that problem?

PR #84769 introduced shouldShowTaxDisabledAlert at MoneyRequestView.tsx:455:

const shouldShowTaxDisabledAlert = !isTaxEnabled && !!transaction?.taxCode;
const shouldShowTax = isTaxEnabled || !!transaction?.taxName || shouldShowTaxDisabledAlert;

For time expenses, isTaxTrackingEnabled() intentionally returns false (PolicyUtils.ts:877), so isTaxEnabled is false. If the time expense has a taxCode set (e.g. from a default), shouldShowTaxDisabledAlert becomes true, which makes shouldShowTax true — displaying tax fields and the "Tax no longer valid" violation for time expenses where tax should never appear.

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

Guard shouldShowTax in MoneyRequestView.tsx to exclude time and per diem requests:

const shouldShowTax = (isTaxEnabled || !!transaction?.taxName || shouldShowTaxDisabledAlert) && !isTimeRequest && !isPerDiemRequest;

Both isTimeRequest and isPerDiemRequest are already computed in the same component (lines ~207-208). This is the most defensive fix since it blocks all three OR paths (isTaxEnabled, taxName, and shouldShowTaxDisabledAlert) from showing tax fields for time/per diem expenses.

What alternative solutions did you explore? (Optional)

Could instead guard only shouldShowTaxDisabledAlert (&& !isTimeRequest && !isPerDiemRequest), but guarding shouldShowTax directly is safer as it also prevents the !!transaction?.taxName path from leaking through for time expenses.

Investigation details

Data flow causing the bug:

1. Time expense has transaction.taxCode set (from workspace default or prior workspace)
2. isTaxTrackingEnabled() returns false for time requests (PolicyUtils.ts:877)
3. shouldShowTaxDisabledAlert = !false && !!taxCode = true
4. shouldShowTax = false || taxName || true = true
5. Tax rate and tax amount fields render (MoneyRequestView.tsx:1108, 1139)
6. taxOutOfPolicy violation also shows via the violations hook

Related issues found:

• [$250] Expense - Tax violation message briefly shown and disappeared. #85810 — "Tax violation message briefly shown and disappeared" (may share the same root cause for certain expense types)

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Next Steps for Contributor+ team: Reply with @MelvinBot implement this to create a draft PR, @MelvinBot <your feedback> to refine this analysis, or explain why you are rejecting Melvin's proposal.