How to reconcile Stripe payouts with bank deposits
Why the numbers don't match
- Payouts are net. Each payout is charges minus refunds, disputes and Stripe fees, so it never equals your gross sales.
- Three different dates. A charge is created on one day, becomes available days later, and is paid out on the payout's arrival date. Group sales by the wrong date and the daily totals won't line up with payouts.
- The bank posts on its own schedule. Weekends and holidays move the date the deposit appears.
- Payouts cross month-end. A payout sent on the 31st may land on the 2nd.
How people do it today
Stripe's payout reconciliation report (itemized CSV per payout), Stripe's bank reconciliation feature (requires linking your bank to Stripe), accounting sync apps (Synder, A2X and others) that post through a clearing account, or a spreadsheet.
The manual method
- In Stripe, export Payouts for the period, widening the range a few days on each side.
- Export or download your bank statement for the same period.
- Filter the bank statement to credits whose description mentions STRIPE.
- Match each payout to a credit with the same amount that arrived within a few days of the payout's arrival date.
- List what's left: payouts with no deposit, and Stripe-looking deposits with no payout.
- For any payout that looks wrong, download its itemized payout reconciliation CSV and check charges, refunds, disputes and fees against the net.
- Repeat next month.
Or run it as a report
In SandQuery, connect Stripe or upload the payouts CSV, add the bank statement (CSV or PDF), and run Stripe payouts matched to bank deposits. It does steps 3–5 and returns matched pairs plus everything unmatched. Sample output (illustrative figures) is on Stripe payout reconciliation.
FAQ
How many days should the matching window be?
It depends on your payout schedule and bank: a few days either side of the payout's arrival date usually covers weekends and holidays.
My monthly totals differ but every payout matched. Why?
A payout probably crossed month-end. Monthly Stripe payouts vs bank deposits counts each payout in the month it landed.
Does this work with QuickBooks?
Yes, alongside it. The report shows what matched and what didn't, and you record the fixes in QuickBooks.