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Merchant fees

Some customer payments may have merchant fees deducted before being deposited into your bank account. How you record these sales will depend on how the transaction is shown on your bank statement.

You should also check with your accounting advisor about how the tax on these transactions should be handled so it's reported correctly on your BAS/GST reports.

Take a look at how online invoice payments can simplify your customer payments and card surcharges.

If your bank statement shows the sale with the merchant fee deducted

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In this example, you've invoiced a customer for a $220 sale. Because they paid using AMEX you incur an $11 AMEX merchant fee. Your bank statement then shows the AMEX payment less the merchant fee ($209).

This scenario assumes you know, or can calculate, the value of the merchant fee.

  1. Record the payment for the invoice and select the option Group with Undeposited Funds and select the applicable Payment Method.

    Receive AMEX payment
  2. Go to Banking > Prepare Bank Deposit and click Deposit Adjustment. The Bank and Deposit Adjustments window appears.

  3. In the Fees and Cash Back section, enter the merchant fee in the Amount field and choose your applicable merchant fees account in the Expense Account field. Check with your accounting advisor if you're not sure which account to choose or if you need to create an account.

    Bank and deposit adjustment showing AMEX fees
  4. Click Record. A new transaction line representing the merchant fee will appear in the Prepare Bank Deposit window.

  5. Select the transactions and the fees that make up the total value of the deposit to your bank account, then click Record.

    Deposit transactions selected

After completing these steps, the sale is closed and you've recognised the AMEX merchant fee. The Bank Register window will now show a single transaction representing what was actually received into your bank account ($209).

Bank register showing deposit

Clicking the transaction's zoom arrow displays the breakdown of the transaction, consisting of the payment received and the deducted merchant fee:

Deposit breakdown



If your bank statement shows the merchant fee separately

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In this example, you've invoiced a customer for a $220 sale. Because they paid using AMEX you incur an $11 AMEX merchant fee. Your bank statement shows the full AMEX payment including the merchant fee, and also shows the merchant fee being deducted as a separate entry.

  1. Record the payment against the open invoice.

    Receive AMEX payment
  2. Record a Spend Money transaction for the merchant fee. In our example we've allocated the expense to a merchant fees expense account:

Spend money transaction for AMEX fees

Check with your accounting advisor if you're not sure which account to choose or if you need to create an account.