Recording Stripe, SumUp & Twint

Record payouts from payment processors correctly: gross revenue, fees, and bank reconciliation.

Recording Payment Processors

If you run a webshop, sell courses online, or take card payments with SumUp or Twint, the money does not come straight from your customer. The payment processor collects the amount, keeps its fee, and transfers the rest to your bank account in batches. Your bank statement shows only that batch payout, not the individual sales.

This guide shows how to record such payouts in Lumabill. It applies to Stripe, SumUp, Twint, PayPal, and any other provider that issues a payout or settlement report.

Note: Lumabill is not tax advice. We show how the case can be mapped in the software. Whether the chosen treatment is right for your business is a question for your accountant.

Tell the Two Kinds of Payments Apart

Before you record anything, check where a payment came from:

  • Payment of a Lumabill invoice via the "Pay now" button (Stripe integration). Lumabill books these automatically the moment the client pays. Nothing to record. Details below.
  • Sale outside Lumabill, such as a webshop order, course booking, card terminal, Stripe Payment Link, SumUp, or Twint. Lumabill knows nothing about these sales. You record them as income.

Never record a sale twice. One payout can contain both kinds. The individual sale is what counts, not the payout.

What Has to Be Booked

For every sale outside Lumabill, the books need three things:

  • Gross revenue as income, with the VAT rate of your service. VAT is owed on the gross amount, not on the net payout.
  • Processor fee as an expense, for example on bank charges or transaction fees. These fees usually carry no VAT.
  • Net amount as the receipt on your bank account.

One income entry in Lumabill covers all three: revenue lines at gross, one deduction line for the fee, and the net amount is reconciled against the bank payout later.

Choose a Rhythm: Per Payout or Per Month

Both work. The provider's report is the supporting document either way.

  • Per payout. One income entry per payout. The bank payment matches exactly one entry, so reconciliation is unambiguous. Recommended if you have few payouts per month.
  • Per month. One income entry from the provider's monthly report (in Stripe, the "Balance summary"). Less work, but several bank payments belong to one entry. This needs a clearing account, see below.

Always attach the report to the income entry. Supporting documents must be kept for ten years, and access to your account at the payment provider is not guaranteed for that long.

Step by Step: Scan a Payout

  1. Get the document from the provider. In Stripe: Balance > Payouts > click the payout and print the page as PDF. For the monthly rhythm: Reports > Balance summary, pick the period, save as PDF. CSV exports are not supported, use PDF or an image.
  2. Revenue > Scan. Upload the PDF. Lumabill extracts the payer, date, the individual sales as line items, and the fees.
  3. Check the lines. Each revenue line needs a revenue account (e.g. 3400) and the VAT rate. The fee appears as a deduction line on an expense account (e.g. 6940 bank charges). Gross, deductions, and net are shown at the bottom.
  4. Debit account. Leave it on accounts receivable (1100). The entry is then "pending" and gets closed in bank reconciliation against the payout.
  5. Save.

Without the scan it works the same way: Revenue > New revenue, enter the lines manually, attach the report as document.

Match the Payout in Bank Reconciliation

After the CAMT import, the payout appears as a credit, usually with "Stripe", "SumUp", or "Twint" in the text.

  1. Click Match on the transaction.
  2. Open the Revenue tab and select the matching income entry.
  3. The bank amount must equal the net amount of the entry (gross minus fees). If a difference remains, for example from rounding or an extra fee, add a line under Adjustments with the amount and an expense account.
  4. Confirm Match.

Do not use Book straight to a revenue account for payouts. That would book neither VAT nor the fee.

Monthly Rhythm With a Clearing Account

When one income entry covers several payouts, bank reconciliation can no longer match them one to one. Use a clearing account instead:

  1. Create an asset account in the chart of accounts, e.g. 1090 "Stripe clearing", if you do not have one yet.
  2. When recording the income, pick this account as the debit account. Lumabill books revenue, fee, and the net amount onto the clearing account.
  3. In bank reconciliation, assign each payout to the clearing account via Match > Book.
  4. Mark the income entry as received in the list and choose Status only - no journal entry so nothing is booked twice.

At month end the clearing account must be at zero. If it is not, a payout or a fee is missing.

Simple Bookkeeping

In simple bookkeeping mode there is no bank reconciliation. Record the income as above with revenue lines and the fee. It appears directly in the cash book: gross revenue on the income side, the fee as an expense.

Invoices Paid via "Pay Now"

If your Stripe account is connected under Settings > Accept Payments Online, clients can pay Lumabill invoices by card. For this you set a Stripe clearing account in the accounting settings.

  • On payment, Lumabill automatically books the gross amount to the clearing account and closes the invoice.
  • Assign the payout to the clearing account in bank reconciliation via Book.
  • Book the Stripe fee separately, for example once a month from the Stripe report: debit bank charges, credit clearing account. The clearing account is then back at zero.

These invoice payments must not be recorded as income a second time.

Frequently Asked Questions

Refunds? The payout document lists them separately. The scan reduces gross revenue by refunds. If you enter manually, subtract the refund from the revenue line and mention it in the description.

Foreign currency? Have the provider pay out in CHF where possible. For payouts in EUR or USD, read Multi-currency.

Do I have to record every sale individually? No. One summary entry per payout or per month is common practice, as long as the report listing the individual sales is attached as the supporting document.

Next Steps

Managing Vendors