Stripe Fees

Understanding how Stripe fees are recorded in QuickBooks is critical for accurate tax reporting and financial statements. This page explains exactly how SyncFast handles fees.

Gross vs. Net Recording

SyncFast records transactions at gross amounts and books fees separately. This means:

• Revenue is recorded at the full charge amount (what the customer paid)
• Stripe fees are recorded as a separate expense line item
• The bank deposit reflects the net amount (gross minus fees)

This approach is preferred by accountants because it gives you accurate gross revenue figures and a clear view of processing costs, both of which matter for tax reporting and financial analysis.

Example

A customer pays $100.00. Stripe's fee is $3.20. The net deposit is $96.80.

SyncFast creates:

Account	Debit	Credit
Stripe Deposit	$100.00
Sales Revenue		$100.00
Payment Processing Fees	$3.20
Stripe Deposit		$3.20

Fee Types

Stripe charges several types of fees, all of which SyncFast handles:

Fee Type	Description	How It's Recorded
Processing fees	Per-transaction percentage + fixed fee	Expense line item per payout
Refund fees	When Stripe retains the fee on a refunded charge	Expense (fee is not reversed)
Dispute fees	Chargeback fees	Expense line item
Stripe Connect fees	Platform/application fees	Expense line item
Subscription fees	Stripe billing product charges	Expense line item

All fee types are mapped to the same expense account by default (e.g., "Payment Processing Fees"), but you can configure separate accounts if you want to track fee categories individually via Account Mapping.

Fees and Refunds

When a charge is refunded, Stripe's behavior regarding fees depends on your Stripe account settings. By default, Stripe keeps the original processing fee. The fee expense stands and only the revenue is reversed via the contra-revenue Refunds account.

SyncFast records whatever fee amounts Stripe includes in the payout, so the journal entries will always match what Stripe reports regardless of your fee refund settings.

Fees in Multi-Currency Transactions

For transactions involving currency conversion, Stripe may charge additional FX fees. These are bundled into the total fee amount reported by Stripe for each payout and recorded as part of the same fee expense line. See Multi-Entity & Multi-Currency for more details.

Tax Implications

Because SyncFast records fees as a separate expense:

• Gross revenue on your P&L reflects actual sales volume
• Processing fees appear as a deductible business expense
• Your financial statements accurately separate revenue from cost of processing

This is the format most accountants and tax professionals expect. If your previous workflow recorded only net deposits, switching to SyncFast will give you more accurate financial reporting.

Verifying Fee Accuracy

To confirm fees are recorded correctly:

1. Open a specific payout in your Stripe Dashboard
2. Note the total fees shown for that payout
3. Find the corresponding journal entry in QuickBooks
4. The fee expense amount should match exactly

For bulk verification, compare the Total Fees in Stripe's Payout report for a period against the sum of fee entries in QuickBooks for the same period.