How to Account for PayPal Fees

A common task for firms that use Paypal is accounting for Paypal's fees.  When Paypal makes a deposit, it is net of Paypal's fees.  What you charged the customer on your invoice is thus more than what you actually receive to your account.

This walkthrough will show you how to split that deposit transaction to account for Paypal's fee and have a deposit transaction to match to your invoice if you wish.

In this example, you have charged your customer $5000 dollars and Paypal has kept $100 for their fee and deposited $4900 to your account.

Follow these steps to split the Paypal deposit:

1)  Click on the row of the transaction to see the list of transaction options.



2)  Click "Split Transaction" to open the split options.



3) Type a "2" in the "Add" field and hit "Apply" to create two rows.



4)  Adjust one row to the amount you charged your customer.  For this example, that should be $5000. Note: This number should be positive.  You'll get to reconcile this amount to an invoice if desired at the end.

Adjust the other row to the amount that Paypal kept.  Note: Paypal's fee should be a negative, so input "-100" in the second row.



5)  Use the dropdown arrow to open the general ledger pick. Choose "Expense" and then choose "Paypal Fees" or "Bank Fees" or the GL account where you want to keep track of Paypal fees.



6)  Click "Confirm Split" and you'll be taken back to the bank register page.



7) Optional: You now have the two split transactions visible on the banking tab with the split icon visible to the left of each row.  Click the deposit row ($205) to see the expanded view.



8)  Optional:  Add attributes if desired and use "Apply to Receivable" to match the deposit to your invoice to your customer.