# DeleteSubscriptionAction returns HTTP 500, and an unexpected charge occurred after deleting a SWAP\_PLAN action **URL:** \ **Category:** Questions\ **Tags:** subscriptions-api\ **Created:** [September 3, 2026, 8:25pm UTC](https://developer.squareup.com/forums/t/deletesubscriptionaction-returns-http-500-and-an-unexpected-charge-occurred-after-deleting-a-swap-plan-action/27488 "2026-09-03T20:25:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![szsuke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/edb3f5/32.png) [@szsuke](https://developer.squareup.com/forums/u/szsuke)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2026, 8:25pm UTC](https://developer.squareup.com/forums/t/deletesubscriptionaction-returns-http-500-and-an-unexpected-charge-occurred-after-deleting-a-swap-plan-action/27488/1 "2026-09-03T20:25:40Z")
Hello, We are a Japanese nonprofit organization using the Subscriptions API in production. We are experiencing two issues that appear to be related and would appreciate your help investigating them. ## Target ```auto Location ID : KXE2FFP9ZMN74 Subscription ID : 2159b95f-de33-4566-bb73-06c99d735c9b Customer ID : [redacted] Environment : Production Square-Version : 2026-07-15 ``` ## Issue 1: An unexpected charge occurred On **2026-08-30 at 00:39:48 JST (2026-08-29 15:39:48 UTC)**, we called `DeleteSubscriptionAction` to remove a scheduled `SWAP_PLAN` action: ```auto action_id : f0a1dfdc-675b-3a14-a640-99f7ac1cee83 effective_date : 2026-09-09 ``` The request succeeded. **Three seconds later, at 00:39:51 JST (15:39:51 UTC)**, an invoice that we did not request was automatically issued and immediately charged: ```auto Amount : ¥1,500 (one full month of the plan) Due date : 2026-08-30 Line item: Claude NPOプラン（スタンダードシート） ``` As a result, `charged_through_date` advanced from **2026-09-09 to 2026-10-09**. We expected the next billing date to be 2026-09-09 and did not expect any charge to occur on 2026-08-30, 10 days before that date. We have already refunded this charge through the Square Dashboard. ### Questions - Why was this invoice issued, and which billing period did it cover? - Is it expected behavior for deleting a `SWAP_PLAN` action to trigger a recalculation of the billing schedule and an immediate charge? - We checked `/v2/subscriptions/{id}/events` and found **no event corresponding to this charge**. Only two events are present: `START_SUBSCRIPTION` and `BILLING_ANCHOR_DATE_CHANGED`, both dated 2026-08-15. Is it expected for a charge to occur without a corresponding subscription event? ## Issue 2: DeleteSubscriptionAction returns HTTP 500 Two actions currently remain on this subscription: ```auto CHANGE_BILLING_ANCHOR_DATE action_id : bfb42563-4676-43b5-93fc-0927b1f1328d effective_date : 2026-09-09 CANCEL action_id : 10aec353-53f9-3409-aa71-c38654c3d402 effective_date : 2026-10-09 ``` Attempts to delete them returned: ```auto Deleting CHANGE_BILLING_ANCHOR_DATE → HTTP 500 INTERNAL_SERVER_ERROR Deleting CANCEL → HTTP 409 CONFLICT ``` After both attempts, the subscription’s `version`, `charged_through_date`, and action list remained unchanged, and no additional charge occurred. ### Questions - Could you investigate why deleting `CHANGE_BILLING_ANCHOR_DATE` returns HTTP 500? Since the API returns a 5xx rather than a 4xx response, this appears to indicate a server-side error rather than an invalid request. - Is there any way to remove this action, either through the API or the Square Dashboard? - Could the HTTP 409 response when deleting the `CANCEL` action be related to the remaining `CHANGE_BILLING_ANCHOR_DATE` action? ## About the CHANGE\_BILLING\_ANCHOR\_DATE action **We have never called the `ChangeBillingAnchorDate` endpoint.** On **2026-08-16 at 12:42 JST** , we called `SwapPlan` with only the following request body: ```auto { "new_plan_variation_id": "YCQFYUTI4RF2MDFIU22RSE6N" } ``` The response contained **two actions** : `SWAP_PLAN` and `CHANGE_BILLING_ANCHOR_DATE`. We therefore believe that the `CHANGE_BILLING_ANCHOR_DATE` action was generated automatically by Square. Please also note that the `BILLING_ANCHOR_DATE_CHANGED` event in the subscription event history is dated 2026-08-15, the subscription start date, rather than 2026-08-16 when `SwapPlan` was called. ### Questions - Is it expected for `SwapPlan` to automatically create a `CHANGE_BILLING_ANCHOR_DATE` action? - The billing anchor date had already been set to the 9th when the subscription was created on 2026-08-15. It appears that another anchor-date-change action setting it to the same value was created. Could this duplicate action be related to the inconsistent state we are seeing? ## Timeline ```auto 2026-08-15 20:35 JST Subscription created via Checkout (prorated charge of ¥1,210) 2026-08-16 12:31 JST UpdateSubscription used to clear canceled_date (cancellation rescinded) Verified afterwards: canceled_date unset, actions empty 2026-08-16 12:42 JST SwapPlan called (Standard → Premium) Response contained: SWAP_PLAN and CHANGE_BILLING_ANCHOR_DATE 2026-08-30 00:39:48 JST DeleteSubscriptionAction called for SWAP_PLAN Request succeeded 2026-08-30 00:39:51 JST Unexpected invoice issued and charged (¥1,500) 2026-08-30 00:40 JST Cancellation requested CANCEL action created 2026-08-30 00:49 JST Charge refunded through Square Dashboard 2026-08-30 01:0x JST Attempted to delete the remaining actions → HTTP 500 / HTTP 409 ``` ## What we would like 1. An explanation of why the unexpected charge in Issue 1 occurred 2. Removal or repair of the `CHANGE_BILLING_ANCHOR_DATE` action (`bfb42563-4676-43b5-93fc-0927b1f1328d`) 3. Guidance on any operations or API sequences we should avoid to prevent this issue from recurring ## Context We are currently migrating our members to recurring billing through the Subscriptions API. This incident occurred during what we believe should be a routine operation: cancelling a scheduled plan change. Because the same unexpected charge could potentially occur for other subscriptions, we have temporarily disabled our plan-change feature until we understand the cause. We would appreciate your help investigating this issue and any guidance on how to safely handle scheduled plan changes in the meantime. We can provide full request and response logs, including timestamps and request details, if needed. Sensitive credentials and access tokens will be redacted. Thank you. ---
**Author:** ![jseok](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f475e1/32.png) [@jseok](https://developer.squareup.com/forums/u/jseok)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2026, 5:25pm UTC](https://developer.squareup.com/forums/t/deletesubscriptionaction-returns-http-500-and-an-unexpected-charge-occurred-after-deleting-a-swap-plan-action/27488/3 "2026-09-04T17:25:49Z")
Hi @szsuke - thank you for flagging. I’ve escalated this issue with the team internally and will revert shortly. ---
**Author:** ![jseok](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f475e1/32.png) [@jseok](https://developer.squareup.com/forums/u/jseok)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2026, 1:28pm UTC](https://developer.squareup.com/forums/t/deletesubscriptionaction-returns-http-500-and-an-unexpected-charge-occurred-after-deleting-a-swap-plan-action/27488/4 "2026-09-08T13:28:53Z")
@szsuke - Thanks for your patience while we investigated this. We confirmed that the behavior you reported was caused by an issue in Square’s subscription processing. When the scheduled plan change was removed, a related billing-anchor action remained and caused the subscription’s billing schedule to be recalculated. This incorrectly generated and charged the invoice for the September 9 - October 9 billing period earlier than intended. We also confirmed that the HTTP 500 you received while deleting the remaining billing-anchor action left the subscription temporarily locked, which caused the subsequent conflict when you tried to remove the cancellation. We have now manually corrected the affected subscription by removing the stale billing-anchor action and clearing the lock. Our engineering team has identified the underlying causes and is working on permanent fixes. Until we confirm that those fixes are deployed, we recommend continuing to avoid deleting scheduled plan-change actions using this sequence until a fix has been released. ---
**Author:** ![james-hill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/82dd89/32.png) [@james-hill](https://developer.squareup.com/forums/u/james-hill)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2026, 5:18pm UTC](https://developer.squareup.com/forums/t/deletesubscriptionaction-returns-http-500-and-an-unexpected-charge-occurred-after-deleting-a-swap-plan-action/27488/5 "2026-09-13T17:18:51Z")
Hi @jseok, we have just encountered an apparently related failure on one owner-only GBP 1 production test subscription (13 September 2026, approximately 17:14 UTC). Our sequence was a scheduled PAUSE with a dated RESUME, not a plan swap. Square also created a related CHANGE\_BILLING\_ANCHOR\_DATE action. Deleting the exact RESUME action succeeded and was verified with a fresh read. The next deletion, for the related billing-anchor action, returned INTERNAL\_SERVER\_ERROR. We stopped immediately and have not retried it or sent a new billing-day request. Fresh readback still shows ACTIVE, GBP 1, the original billing day, PAUSE on 7 October and CHANGE\_BILLING\_ANCHOR\_DATE on 14 October. The latest invoice read shows only the existing paid invoice, with no new invoice observed. Has the fix mentioned above been deployed? Could you investigate and advise on repair of this test subscription, including any lock? Please provide a private route for the subscription and request IDs. We are keeping this disabled for other customers and are not publishing customer details or credentials here. Thank you. ---
**Author:** ![jseok](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f475e1/32.png) [@jseok](https://developer.squareup.com/forums/u/jseok)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2026, 9:35pm UTC](https://developer.squareup.com/forums/t/deletesubscriptionaction-returns-http-500-and-an-unexpected-charge-occurred-after-deleting-a-swap-plan-action/27488/6 "2026-09-14T21:35:57Z")
@james-hill Thanks for reporting - I’ll check on this internally and get back to you. ---
**Author:** ![james-hill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/82dd89/32.png) [@james-hill](https://developer.squareup.com/forums/u/james-hill)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2026, 9:11am UTC](https://developer.squareup.com/forums/t/deletesubscriptionaction-returns-http-500-and-an-unexpected-charge-occurred-after-deleting-a-swap-plan-action/27488/8 "2026-09-15T09:11:05Z")
Thanks so much, I look forward to your response. It would be incredibly helpful for our customers if we could be flexible on changing their subscription monthly billing dates ---
**Author:** ![jseok](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f475e1/32.png) [@jseok](https://developer.squareup.com/forums/u/jseok)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2026, 2:42pm UTC](https://developer.squareup.com/forums/t/deletesubscriptionaction-returns-http-500-and-an-unexpected-charge-occurred-after-deleting-a-swap-plan-action/27488/9 "2026-09-15T14:42:12Z")
@james-hill - can you send me a DM with the `subscription_id` of the affected subscription? I will update here when I hear back from the team. ---
**Author:** ![jseok](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f475e1/32.png) [@jseok](https://developer.squareup.com/forums/u/jseok)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2026, 4:09pm UTC](https://developer.squareup.com/forums/t/deletesubscriptionaction-returns-http-500-and-an-unexpected-charge-occurred-after-deleting-a-swap-plan-action/27488/10 "2026-09-15T16:09:48Z")
Thanks for your patience - here are some details from our team. - The fix that was released was to address the original issue of erroneous invoice generation as a result of deleting the `SWAP_PLAN` action. - Direct deletion of a `CHANGE_BILLING_ANCHOR_DATE` action is _not_ a supported action. - If you need to adjust a subscription action, make sure to target the specific supported action rather than attempt to delete every returned action. If an unwanted billing-anchor action remains, the recommendation is to contact support for review rather than delete it, or issue another billing-day change as a workaround. @james-hill - once you DM me with the `subscription_id`, I can make sure the team unlocks it for you! ---
**Author:** ![james-hill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/82dd89/32.png) [@james-hill](https://developer.squareup.com/forums/u/james-hill)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2026, 10:05am UTC](https://developer.squareup.com/forums/t/deletesubscriptionaction-returns-http-500-and-an-unexpected-charge-occurred-after-deleting-a-swap-plan-action/27488/11 "2026-09-16T10:05:29Z")
Thanks @jseok. Your profile is hidden and I cannot see a Message option. Could you start a private conversation so I can send the owner-test subscription ID for the unlock? We have blocked deletion of billing-anchor actions and have not retried the failed operation. I also tested your suggested second billing-day request in Sandbox today. The current billing day changed to 16, but the existing scheduled change to day 19 remained in include=actions. Does that old action still execute, or should your team remove it? I can share the synthetic test IDs and responses privately. ---
**Author:** ![jseok](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f475e1/32.png) [@jseok](https://developer.squareup.com/forums/u/jseok)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2026, 3:35pm UTC](https://developer.squareup.com/forums/t/deletesubscriptionaction-returns-http-500-and-an-unexpected-charge-occurred-after-deleting-a-swap-plan-action/27488/12 "2026-09-16T15:35:55Z")
@james-hill - The existing billing-day request will still execute. The workaround would be to schedule the proper billing-day request to execute right after the existing billing-day request. I do want to note that this action may have invoicing implications, but if you’ve configured proration for your subscriptions then it should be fine. ---
**Author:** ![szsuke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/edb3f5/32.png) [@szsuke](https://developer.squareup.com/forums/u/szsuke)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2026, 7:34am UTC](https://developer.squareup.com/forums/t/deletesubscriptionaction-returns-http-500-and-an-unexpected-charge-occurred-after-deleting-a-swap-plan-action/27488/13 "2026-09-18T07:34:23Z")
Hi @jseok , Thank you very much for the detailed explanation and for taking the time to investigate this issue with your team. The clarification about the fix and the handling of `CHANGE_BILLING_ANCHOR_DATE` actions is very helpful. We’ll update our implementation accordingly. We really appreciate your support and all the work your team put into resolving this. Thank you again!