Stripe gathers sales, refunds, fees and disputes on a balance and pays it out to the bank a few days later. The bank line is therefore rarely one sale, and it often falls on another day, and sometimes in another VAT period, than the sale. This guide shows how to book Stripe payouts correctly in e-conomic, with sales, refunds, fees and VAT.
What a Stripe payout holds
In the Stripe Dashboard you find each payout under Balances → Payouts. A payout shows the transactions it is made of:
- Payments from customers.
- Refunds, which are deducted.
- Fees: Stripe's fee on each payment and fees for Stripe's own services.
- Disputes: the amount held back, the dispute fee, and any reversal if you win.
- Currency conversion, if the customer paid in another currency.
The "Payout reconciliation" report gives the same figures for a whole period.
The principle: Stripe receivable
Use a clearing account, a balance account such as "Stripe receivable", for the money Stripe holds for you. Sales go in on the day they hit the Stripe balance. Refunds and fees go out on the day they happened. The payout moves the rest to the bank on the day the money arrived. When a payout is done, the account stands at zero, and the bank line matches the payout exactly.
The dates matter. A sale on 30 June paid out on 2 July belongs to the second quarter. Book everything on the payout day, and the sales and VAT move into the wrong period.
Is the sale invoiced, or is the payout the sale?
Before you book, you must know where the sale is counted. It may be counted in one place only:
- The payout is the sale. Nothing in e-conomic has invoiced the payments: a webshop that books daily totals, say, or subscriptions without invoices in e-conomic. The sales are booked on a revenue account with VAT.
- The sale is already invoiced. The webshop's orders are invoices in e-conomic, or you send Stripe's own invoices to e-conomic. The payout must then not be booked as sales again. The payments should close the invoices or go to a balance account without VAT that is settled against them.
Example: the payout is the sale
Stripe pays out DKK 2,402.15 on 15 October for sales on 13 and 14 October of DKK 2,500.00 including VAT, a refund of DKK 50.00 and fees of DKK 47.85:
| Entry | Debit | Credit | Amount |
|---|---|---|---|
| Oct 13–14 sales | Stripe receivable | Sales (25% VAT) | 2,500.00 |
| Oct 14 refund | Sales (25% VAT) | Stripe receivable | 50.00 |
| Oct 14 fees | Fees | Stripe receivable | 47.85 |
| Oct 15 payout | Bank | Stripe receivable | 2,402.15 |
In: 2,500.00. Out: 50.00 + 47.85 + 2,402.15 = 2,500.00. Revenue is DKK 2,450.00 including VAT, not the DKK 2,402.15 that reached the bank. The difference is Stripe's fees, which are an expense.
Stripe's fees and VAT
Stripe charges two kinds of fees, and the VAT differs:
- The fee on each payment is a financial service, usually without VAT.
- Stripe's own services, such as Billing, Tax, Invoicing, Sigma and currency conversion, are bought from Stripe Payments Europe in Ireland. That is a service bought in the EU, usually under the reverse charge: you work out Danish VAT on the amount yourselves and deduct it again.
Keep the two on separate accounts, so the VAT can be set right. Stripe issues a monthly statement of its fees that your bookkeeper can use as a voucher. Ask your accountant which VAT code to use.
Disputes and currency
- Disputes: The disputed amount and the dispute fee are taken from the balance. Book them on an account for disputes, and book any reversal there too, so the account shows what disputes have cost.
- Payouts in euro or another currency are booked in that currency on their own bank and clearing account, at the National Bank's rate of the day.
Common mistakes
- The payout booked as revenue: the fees vanish, and revenue and VAT come out too low.
- Everything dated on the payout day: sales land in the wrong VAT period at month and quarter end.
- Sales counted twice: both invoices and payouts booked as revenue.
- All fees without VAT: Stripe's own services usually fall under the reverse charge.
Questions about Stripe in e-conomic
Why does the Stripe payout not match the day's sales?
Because Stripe pays out with a delay and gathers several days of sales, refunds and fees in one payout. Reconcile the payout against its own transactions in Stripe, not against the sales on the payout day.
Should Stripe subscriptions be booked differently?
If you use Stripe Billing and send Stripe's invoices to e-conomic, the sale is invoiced there. The payout must then not be booked as sales again; the payments should close the invoices or go to a balance account without VAT.
Automatically with 2app
2app reads each Stripe payout with a restricted key that may only read, and puts it in a daybook in e-conomic. Sales, refunds, disputes and fees are dated the day they hit the balance, and the payout the day the money reached the bank. Everything goes through Stripe receivable, which comes to zero. Stripe's own services can get their own account and VAT code. A payout that does not add up to the øre is stopped and shown, and you book the daybook yourselves. If the orders come from a webshop, they can become invoices with WooCommerce to e-conomic, and each Stripe payment then closes its invoice.