How to Import Stripe Transactions into QuickBooks (Connector or CSV)

Stripe pays you in payouts: it collects many customer payments, subtracts fees and refunds, and sends one lump sum to your bank. If you only record the payouts, QuickBooks shows a deposit of $4,812.36 with no idea which sales, fees and refunds make it up. The goal is to record the detail and have the payouts match your bank feed. There are two ways.

The setup that makes it reconcile: a Stripe clearing account

Create an account of type Bank in QuickBooks called Stripe (one per currency if you have several). Then:

• sales go into the Stripe account (income),
• Stripe fees come out of it (expense: Stripe fees / Merchant fees),
• refunds and disputes come out of it,
• each payout is a transfer from Stripe to your checking account — the same deposit you see in your bank feed.

When everything is in, the Stripe account balance in QuickBooks equals your Stripe balance.

Option 1: Stripe Connector by QuickBooks (QuickBooks Online)

Intuit offers a Stripe Connector app for QuickBooks Online. According to Intuit’s help article it imports sales, refunds, payouts and adjustments automatically, can bring in up to 2 years of history, records fees in a Stripe fees expense account and creates a bank deposit for each payout that links to the underlying sales and fees.

1. In QuickBooks Online open Apps / Integrations and search for Stripe Connector.
2. Install it, sign in to Stripe and authorize the connection.
3. Choose the bank account where Stripe deposits your payouts, and how far back to import.

If the app fits your setup, it is the least work. Some users prefer third-party sync apps for more control over customers, products and taxes; those are paid subscriptions.

Option 2: Stripe balance report as CSV → QBO

If you use QuickBooks Desktop, don’t want another app, or need to catch up a period quickly, import Stripe’s own report.

1. Download the itemized balance report

1. In the Stripe Dashboard open Reports → Balance and set the date range (a calendar month is easiest).
2. In the Balance change from activity section, download the itemized CSV. Each row is one balance transaction — charge, refund, dispute, fee adjustment — with columns such as created, reporting_category, gross, fee, net and description.
3. In the Payouts section, download the itemized payouts CSV for the same period.

Column sets vary slightly between report versions; the converter detects the common ones.

2. Convert to QBO

1. Drop the activity CSV into the CSV to QBO converter.
2. It picks the date (created), the description and the net column automatically, and never uses balance columns. Check the preview: charges positive, refunds negative.
3. Account type Checking (Stripe is a bank-type account in QuickBooks). Download the .qbo file.
4. Do the same with the payouts CSV — payouts must show as money out of Stripe. If they are positive, tick Reverse signs.

Import both files into the Stripe account: QuickBooks Online Banking → Link account ▾ → Upload from file; QuickBooks Desktop File → Utilities → Import → Web Connect Files. Then categorise: charges → income, refunds → income (or a refunds account), payouts → Transfer to checking.

Net or gross?

Importing net gives one line per charge with the fee already taken off — simple, and the Stripe balance is right. To report fees as an expense (recommended for tax purposes), switch the Amount column in the converter to gross, then import the fee column as a second file (or post one monthly journal entry for total fees from the report’s summary). Check the sign of fees in the preview: they must reduce the Stripe balance.

Reconciling payouts

For each payout in your bank feed, QuickBooks should find a matching transfer from the Stripe account with the same amount and date. If one doesn’t match:

• the payout may contain activity from the previous month (Stripe pays out on a delay) — check the payout’s date range in the Stripe Dashboard;
• a dispute, reserve or adjustment may have reduced it;
• the payout went to a different bank account.

At month-end, the Stripe account in QuickBooks should equal the ending balance on Stripe’s Balance report.

Related

• PayPal transactions to QuickBooks — the same clearing-account approach
• How to import bank and credit card transactions into QuickBooks
• How to import a CSV file into QuickBooks Online
• Square and Shopify to QuickBooks