# Subscription plan deactivated immediately due to billing issue

**URL:** <https://developer.squareup.com/forums/t/subscription-plan-deactivated-immediately-due-to-billing-issue/25672>\
**Category:** Questions\
**Created:** [March 26, 2026, 10:18pm UTC](https://developer.squareup.com/forums/t/subscription-plan-deactivated-immediately-due-to-billing-issue/25672 "2026-03-26T22:18:49Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![jpc](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/74df32/32.png) [@jpc](https://developer.squareup.com/forums/u/jpc)\
**Post date:** [March 26, 2026, 10:18pm UTC](https://developer.squareup.com/forums/t/subscription-plan-deactivated-immediately-due-to-billing-issue/25672/1 "2026-03-26T22:18:49Z")

</div>

When I create a subscription in my Sandbox app using the test Visa (4111 1111 1111 1111), it will occasionally fail for an unknown reason. The Square Dashboard just says: “A billing issue has occured and this subscription has been deactivated.” (sidebar: “occurred” is spelled wrong.)

I subscribed to webhooks to see if it would give more information. It looks like the subscription is created and “ACTIVE.”

```auto
Type: subscription.created
Event ID: c2c5fa21-b2bf-3f58-889e-1780cc628e65
Created: 2026-03-26T22:01:00.476Z
Data: {
  "type": "subscription",
  "id": "96d13661-d862-4cab-97c1-6e52c39e174d",
  "object": {
...
      "start_date": "2026-03-26",
      "status": "ACTIVE",
      "tenant": "BUYER",
      "timezone": "UTC",
      "version": 1
    }
  }
}

```

But a couple seconds later I get another update saying it was deactivated:

```auto
Type: subscription.updated
Event ID: 33a4326a-c3b5-31ee-8a94-d56702bed594
Created: 2026-03-26T22:01:05.396Z
Data: {
  "type": "subscription",
  "id": "96d13661-d862-4cab-97c1-6e52c39e174d",
...
      "start_date": "2026-03-26",
      "status": "DEACTIVATED",
      "tenant": "BUYER",
      "timezone": "UTC",
      "version": 1
    }
  }
}

```

Based on this, it looks like I cannot rely on the “ACTIVATED” status of the subscription to determine if a customer has an active subscription. How can I get more information about why the account was deactivated? And what conditions do I need to check to verify that a customer is up-to-date on subscription dues?

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![anna78smith](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/bb73d2/32.png) [@anna78smith](https://developer.squareup.com/forums/u/anna78smith)\
**Post date:** [March 31, 2026, 9:45am UTC](https://developer.squareup.com/forums/t/subscription-plan-deactivated-immediately-due-to-billing-issue/25672/2 "2026-03-31T09:45:23Z")

</div>

Hello,  
In Square’s Sandbox, test cards can sometimes trigger deactivation to simulate real-world billing failures, so the “ACTIVE” status alone isn’t reliable. To understand why a subscription was deactivated, you’ll need to check the subscription.updated webhook payload for cancellation\_reason or billing\_issue fields, and confirm payment status through the related invoice.payment events. The safest way to verify a customer’s subscription is up-to-date is by checking both the subscription’s current status and whether its latest invoice is marked as PAID.

Best regards,  
Anna  
[peryourhealth](https://www.peryourhealth.com.co)