Record every payment at its full amount into a Stripe clearing account, take fees and refunds out of the same account, and record each payout as a transfer from clearing to the bank. When each location has its own Stripe account and books, each file gets its own clearing account, and it should come back to zero after every payout.
Why doesn't the Stripe payout match the sales?
A payout is a net number. Stripe adds up the payments it collected and takes out its fees, refunds and any disputes. It sends the rest to the bank, often covering several days of activity at once.
If the books record the payout as the sale, revenue is understated by the fees, refunds disappear, and nobody can tie a customer's payment to a bank deposit. The fix is to stop treating the payout as income.
What is a clearing account and how does it work?
A clearing account is a holding account on the balance sheet, usually called something like "Stripe clearing". Every movement goes through it:
- Each payment is recorded at its full amount: debit Stripe clearing, credit the customer's invoice or revenue.
- Each fee is recorded as an expense: debit processing fees, credit Stripe clearing.
- Each refund or dispute reverses out: credit Stripe clearing for the amount returned.
- Each payout is a transfer: debit the bank account, credit Stripe clearing.
After a payout, the clearing account should hold only the activity Stripe hasn't paid out yet. When it drifts, something was missed.
What does one payout look like?
| Line | Amount |
|---|---|
| Payments collected (14) | $12,480.00 |
| Refunds (1) | −$560.00 |
| Processing fees | −$361.92 |
| Payout to the bank | $11,558.08 |
In the books, that's fourteen payments in at full value, one refund out, one fee entry and one transfer of $11,558.08 to the bank. The clearing account goes back to where it was before these fourteen payments.
How does this change with a Stripe account per location?
It gets simpler, not harder. When each location or entity has its own Stripe account, payouts from Denver only ever contain Denver's payments, and they land in Denver's bank account. Each location's books get their own clearing account, and each reconciles on its own.
The harder case is one Stripe account shared by several locations. Then one payout mixes everyone's money, and each payment has to be tagged with its location before the payout can be split. If you run that way, a class or tracking category on every payment is not optional.
What should month end check?
- Stripe clearing matches Stripe's own balance for payments not yet paid out.
- Total fees in the books match Stripe's fee report for the month.
- Every refund in Stripe has a matching entry, and every dispute has a status.
- Each payout in the bank feed is matched to a transfer from clearing, not to income.
- Payments made in the last day or two of the month often pay out in the next month. At month end they're still in clearing, and the clearing balance should equal them.
Your accountant may name the accounts differently or prefer a different layout. The principle is what matters: gross in, costs out, payout as a transfer.
Paycove pays each location into its own Stripe account and QuickBooks or Xero file and posts every payment and recovered fee there, so each location reconciles on its own.
Book 15 minutes