FAQ
Stripe reconciliation, in short answers.
The questions accountants and owners ask about Stripe, payouts, QuickBooks Online and the 1099-K.
Why doesn't my Stripe payout match my bank deposit?
Usually it does, to the cent, and the mismatch is with your sales, not the payout. A payout is the net of everything that became available since the last one: charges, less Stripe fees, less refunds, less disputes and dispute fees, plus or minus adjustments. A $1,000 day of sales becomes a $970 payout.
When the deposit itself differs from the payout, look for a bank fee on incoming wires, a payout that failed and was retried, a currency conversion, or two payouts the bank combined into one deposit.
Which transactions are in this Stripe payout?
In the Stripe dashboard, open Balances, then Payouts, then the payout. The transactions tab lists the balance transactions it contains. For a file, use the Payout reconciliation report under Reports, which gives one row per transaction with the payout id.
Two cases are harder. A manual payout is not itemised; Stripe attaches its transactions to the next automatic payout. And a charge created in one month but paid out in the next appears in neither month cleanly unless you track available_on dates.
ClearDeposits associates each manual payout with the charges whose available amounts tie to it exactly, and shows the rest as Stripe reported it.
How do I reconcile Stripe payouts in QuickBooks Online?
Use a Stripe clearing account. Book gross sales to revenue with the other side to clearing. Book fees, refunds and disputes against clearing. When a payout reaches the bank, book a transfer from clearing to the bank account for the payout amount. After each period the clearing balance should equal Stripe's pending plus available balance.
Do not match the bank deposit to a sales receipt for the same amount. The deposit is net of fees and the receipt is gross, so the match forces a plug.
How do I record Stripe fees, refunds and chargebacks?
Fees: an expense (merchant processing fees), credit the clearing account. Refunds: debit revenue or a contra-revenue account for the refund amount, credit clearing. Stripe does not return the processing fee on a standard refund, so the fee stays booked; take the exact figures from Stripe's data rather than assuming. Chargebacks: debit revenue or contra-revenue for the disputed amount and debit a dispute-fee expense for the fee, credit clearing. If you win the dispute, reverse both.
Sales tax collected through Stripe Tax is a liability, not revenue, and a refund reverses the tax in proportion.
My Stripe clearing account won't zero out. Why?
It is not supposed to be zero. At any date it should equal what Stripe is holding: funds pending plus funds available but not yet paid out, less payouts in transit to the bank. Compare it with the Stripe balance on that date.
If the difference is real, the usual causes are a refund or dispute booked against the bank instead of clearing, a fee missed on a refund, a manual payout booked twice, a payout that failed, or a transaction edited in QuickBooks Online after it was synced.
Why is my Stripe income doubled in QuickBooks Online?
The sales were booked twice: once from a Stripe sync or sales receipts, and again when the bank feed brought in the payout and someone categorised it as income. The payout is a transfer from clearing to the bank, never income.
A second cause is a sync tool that re-posted after an error, or an import and a sync that both ran. Check for duplicate Stripe ids in the memo fields.
Is the Stripe 1099-K gross or net?
Gross. The 1099-K reports the total amount of payments processed, before fees, refunds, chargebacks and adjustments, by month, based on the date funds became available. It will not match your bank deposits and is not meant to.
To reconcile, start from gross charges on the available_on date, subtract refunds, disputes, fees and adjustments, and the result should tie to your payouts for the year.
On a cash basis, when is a Stripe subscription charge revenue?
When the cash is received. Two dates can count as received: the date Stripe made the funds available, or the date the payout reached your bank. Each gives a different month for charges in the last days of a period. Pick one, write it down, and apply it every month. The charge date is the accrual date, not a cash one.
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