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How do I record Stripe fees in a QuickBooks journal entry?
Record Stripe fees in QuickBooks Online with a journal entry: debit a fees expense account and credit a Stripe clearing account. Worked example included.
Published
Short answer: debit a Stripe Fees expense account and credit a Stripe Clearing account for the total fees in the period (or per payout or per day). Record the gross sale separately (Dr Clearing / Cr Sales), and the payout as Dr Bank / Cr Clearing. That way income shows the full sale, fees show as an expense, and the bank deposit matches.
Accounts you need
- Stripe Clearing: other current asset (or a bank-type account)
- Stripe Fees: expense
- Sales: income
- Your real bank account
Worked example (illustrative numbers only)
Example: on one day you had 175.00 in gross charges and 5.98 in Stripe fees (made-up numbers). The journal entry in QuickBooks Online:
| Account | Debit | Credit | Memo |
|---|---|---|---|
| Stripe Clearing | 175.00 | Gross Stripe charges | |
| Sales | 175.00 | Gross Stripe charges | |
| Stripe Fees | 5.98 | Stripe processing fees | |
| Stripe Clearing | 5.98 | Stripe processing fees | |
| Total | 180.98 | 180.98 |
Clearing now holds 169.02 (175.00 − 5.98). When Stripe pays that out, record Dr Bank 169.02 / Cr Stripe Clearing 169.02 and clearing is back to zero.
Steps in QuickBooks Online
- Choose + New → Journal entry.
- Set the date to the day (or payout date) the fees belong to, and give it a journal number you can find later, for example
SC-2026-10-15. - Add the lines above. Debits must equal credits before QuickBooks will save it.
- Take the fee total from your Stripe balance transactions export (the
feecolumn), not from the bank statement.
If you post many days at once, you can import the entries as a CSV instead. If the import fails, see QuickBooks journal entry CSV import errors and how to fix them. For refunds, see how to record Stripe refund fees.
Doing it faster: StripeClear Journal
StripeClear Journal is a single offline HTML file ($8 one-time). Drop in your Stripe balance transactions CSV and it builds one balanced QuickBooks Online journal per day, with a payout summary and an audit file. It runs in your browser; nothing is uploaded. It is a reconciliation helper, not accounting advice. Want to look at your data first? Try the free Stripe Payout Check.
Related guides
FAQ
Should I record Stripe fees per transaction or per payout?
Either works if you are consistent. Many small businesses post one entry per day or per payout with the fee total, which keeps the ledger readable while still matching Stripe.
Which account type should Stripe Fees be?
Usually an expense account, for example "Merchant fees" or "Bank charges". Ask your accountant which account fits your chart of accounts.
Can I just record the net deposit as sales?
You can, but then your income is understated and your fees are invisible. Recording gross sales and fees separately is the usual approach.
Where do I find the fee amounts?
In the Stripe Dashboard export of balance transactions. Each row has amount, fee and net columns.
Check your own export for free
Drop a Stripe balance CSV into the free Stripe Payout Check to see per-category totals and whether every row ties out (gross − fee = net). It runs in your browser and nothing is uploaded.