Client is on Xero. They started on Paypal/Stripe in January but didn't get to grips with the bookkeeping. At the moment they only have a working bank feed from their bank account.
They tried to start a bankfeed from Paypal last week, but didn't get the feed. When I looked at the Xero community section there are people complaining bitterly that a bank feed isn't possible. Someone called Karl has helpfully written out details on how to structure a csv file from Paypal, although I'm struggling to understand all his instructions.
First, do you agree that I won't be able to get a bank feed from Paypal? Will I have the same problem with Stripe?
I've just spent 3 hours matching the csv data to the Paypal statement. Many duplicate lines must be deleted and I still can't match the deposits line, but will get there one day, I'm sure.
So it is possible to construct an import file from Paypal if you've got nothing else to do all day.
MTD raises its ugly head here.
I read a post about this from another accountant on Aweb, I think last year. Someone advised him to put all the Paypal stuff in the bank account to a holding account, and then do a journal from there. That would compress the number of entry lines to 20 at the moment.
So, I think I need to forget the bank feed, and do this myself.
But what about MTD?
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It is quite possible to have a feed from Paypal into Xero. I currently have one client where this works well on a daily basis and in the past another with several Paypal accounts (different currencies) where it also worked well
One thing to check - have they set up the Paypal account as a business account? I don't know if that would affect a bank feed but it would be worth checking if there is an ongoing issue.
If you can get it to work or not you will still have past periods to sort out. I'd set up a bank account as a Paypal account and set a bank rule on the account that does have the feed to post all transfers in and out. Then log in to Paypal and download the monthly report. Post Paypal sales and payments as spend money and receive money transactions to balance monthly - subject always to the small delay for payments in transit.
Personally, If MTD raises its head I'd stamp on it, and carry on, particularly if it's sorting out the past. I'd probably ignore it going forward, but that's your call.
Thank you Cloudcounter. I have been wondering whether their account is set up as a business account, as I agree that could be the reason for the problem.
As PP deducts commission from every sale/refund, how do you handle that when the bank feed works?
It is quite possible to have a feed from Paypal into Xero. I currently have one client where this works well on a daily basis and in the past another with several Paypal accounts (different currencies) where it also worked well
One thing to check - have they set up the Paypal account as a business account? I don't know if that would affect a bank feed but it would be worth checking if there is an ongoing issue.
If you can get it to work or not you will still have past periods to sort out. I'd set up a bank account as a Paypal account and set a bank rule on the account that does have the feed to post all transfers in and out. Then log in to Paypal and download the monthly report. Post Paypal sales and payments as spend money and receive money transactions to balance monthly - subject always to the small delay for payments in transit.
Personally, If MTD raises its head I'd stamp on it, and carry on, particularly if it's sorting out the past. I'd probably ignore it going forward, but that's your call.
In the paypal feed for my client the sales are shown gross and each fee is listed separately, so no issues.
In the paypal feed for my client the sales are shown gross and each fee is listed separately, so no issues.
In the paypal feed for my client the sales are shown gross and each fee is listed separately, so no issues.
We are professional accountants and tax advisors.
Bookkeeping should be a doddle.
The software developers should hang their collective heads in shame.
The fact that online communities and other forums exist shows the depth of the problem.
Many of us know that most forums or threads are time draining cul de sacs, rather than a one stop shop for a reputable solution.
Moonbeam, I have no answer but share your pain.
Will your client even pay for the paracetamol to ease the headache?
Software houses
Xero
QuickBooks
Sage
What is your response?
HMRC VAT MTD is with us and more to come.
HMRC
Are you going to compel software houses to develop
" Easy get it right first time" software..... ?
Tax Compliance with Ease, please.
Users of book keeping software are ,:
Frustrated and angry at the time wasted on what should be simple bookkeeping.....for the modern digital economy and commerce platforms.
I would add that Central Government cannot even ensure, or even be aware, that the Covid 19 excel spreadsheet is fit for purpose is an indicator of a problem.... the expectation gap with software is H U G E.
Quickfile has a bank feed for both stripe and PayPal.
The only issue the community seems to have is both these is the payments come after the fees are taken. We normally explain to them that they should set up a holding account in the system to which they can use to split the payments and tag the invoices.
PayPal also seems to cause issues with doubling up the transactions, but yes a bank feed is possible so I'm surprised xero can't do it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mb0bP38tgBg&t=83s
this is a quickbooks overview
may help with XERO too
Both PayPal and Stripe have effective, working feeds, and have done for many years. If the client can't get them to work I suspect this is user error more than anything else.
Your bookkeeping issue I suspect will be potentially reconciling matching the feed transactions to sales transactions. This can take a considerable amount of time, particularly if transaction volumes are high. There are a number of ways to deal with this, but that depends on how the sales are initiated - website, from Xero, another 3rd party etc
We have a client who uses both and they work well. Occasional duplicate entry but as long as you regularly check them to the Paypal reports with balance these are quite easy to spot. Fees are automatically deducted as separate transactions, which is more than QBs does at present. We have also set up rules to automatically categorised sales coming in based on product descriptions - we just then need to check it is right, rather than code it all. My issue was getting access to Stripe so that I could get the detailed info to back up the feed.
Thank you all for the very detailed advice. Client is pursuing bank feed issue with Xero, so I presume the reason she's having trouble is a misunderstanding on her part.
This is curious as we have many clients using both PayPal and Stripe; the Xero feeds for both have improved immeasurably and, generally, there are no problems with this. Where folks certainly come unstuck is having just one PayPal account in Xero if there are multiple currency transactions in PayPal. Is this case here? The CSV imports work well, again provided you separate the currencies if such apply. As example of how PayPal works, CSV or feeds, if there is a $10 spend, PayPal has an internal transaction of the sterling equivalent (£7.75, say). This means you have at least three or four feed items/download lines in the CSV:
-$10 (item spent): in the PayPal $ account,
+$10 ("transfer from £"): again in the PayPal $ account and
-£7.75 ("transfer to $"): in the PayPal £ account
depending on how the PayPal account is set up, there may be the associated charge/deposit of
+£7.75 deposit from the bank account: in the PayPal £ account, which should be recorded as a transfer from the bank account in Xero
While all this is certainly a convoluted way of doing things, with cash coding and Xero bank rules we can generally go about 100 spend transactions per 15-30 minutes
With all merchants, PayPal, Stripe, SagePay, you also have to watch out for items on and off hold. But that is easy to sort out.
Best of luck!
What's curious in this instance is why you wouldn't just have the multi-currency accounts in PayPal set up as separate bank accounts and so have the data come through a feed for the $ transactions rather than manual import/export.
It sounds like an old feed is in operation if this is the case
This is curious as we have many clients using both PayPal and Stripe; the Xero feeds for both have improved immeasurably and, generally, there are no problems with this. Where folks certainly come unstuck is having just one PayPal account in Xero if there are multiple currency transactions in PayPal. Is this case here? The CSV imports work well, again provided you separate the currencies if such apply. As example of how PayPal works, CSV or feeds, if there is a $10 spend, PayPal has an internal transaction of the sterling equivalent (£7.75, say). This means you have at least three or four feed items/download lines in the CSV:
-$10 (item spent): in the PayPal $ account,
+$10 ("transfer from £"): again in the PayPal $ account and
-£7.75 ("transfer to $"): in the PayPal £ account
depending on how the PayPal account is set up, there may be the associated charge/deposit of
+£7.75 deposit from the bank account: in the PayPal £ account, which should be recorded as a transfer from the bank account in Xero
While all this is certainly a convoluted way of doing things, with cash coding and Xero bank rules we can generally go about 100 spend transactions per 15-30 minutes
With all merchants, PayPal, Stripe, SagePay, you also have to watch out for items on and off hold. But that is easy to sort out.
Best of luck!
