Card and TWINT payments (Stripe)
Your clients can pay their invoices by card or TWINT from the client portal. The money goes through your Stripe account, then Stripe pays it out to your bank account, often as a grouped amount, net of fees. To Bill books each step and shows you what is still on its way.
Before you start
- Your Stripe account is linked to To Bill in Settings › Receive Payments, with Link my Stripe account. See Online payments.
- Your clients pay from the invoice’s link, on the client portal. See The client portal.
- For everything to be booked, To Bill’s accounting must be active and your books opened.
TWINT
TWINT goes through your Stripe account, like cards. It only accepts Swiss francs, and no more than CHF 5’000 per payment: above that, the client pays by card.
What To Bill books
The money from a card or TWINT payment does not go straight to the bank: it waits in your Stripe account. To Bill follows it on a transit account, 1091 Online payments in transit (Stripe, TWINT).
| Event | Debit | Credit |
|---|---|---|
| The client pays their invoice | 1091 Online payments in transit | 1100 Accounts receivable |
| Fees deducted from the payment | 6940 Online payment fees | 1091 |
| Refund to the client | 1100 Accounts receivable | 1091 |
| Stripe pays the money out to your bank | the bank’s account (1020…) | 1091 |
- The payment is recorded on the invoice for its full amount; the fees are a separate expense. The invoice is therefore paid in full, even if Stripe pays out less.
- A refund is attached to the credit note that owes it. Without a credit note, the payment is cancelled and the invoice is open again. See Credit notes.
- A dispute (the client contests the payment with their bank) takes the money out of 1091 and adds dispute fees; if the dispute is won, the money comes back. When the platform bears the dispute, To Bill says so without writing anything in your books.
On the page of an invoice paid by card or TWINT, the Card and TWINT section lists these movements and says for each one whether it is booked.
Follow the payouts
In Accounting › Bank, open the Stripe / TWINT tab.
| Box | What it shows |
|---|---|
| On its way to your bank | The money collected that Stripe has not paid out yet, or whose payout is not on your statement yet: the balance of 1091. |
| Payouts without a statement line | The payouts Stripe has made that have not found their line on the statement yet. |
| Movements not booked | Fees, refunds or disputes that the journal refused, for example in a closed financial year. Fix the cause, then click Retry. |
| Open disputes | The payments a client contests. Respond to them in your Stripe dashboard, before the deadline shown on the invoice. |
The Payouts list shows each Stripe payout, its Arrival date, its Amount, its Status (Paid out, Failed, Cancelled) and its Statement line. Filter with To reconcile, Reconciled or Failed.
Reconcile a payout
When you import the statement, To Bill looks for each payout by itself: money coming in for the same amount, between three days before and seven days after the expected arrival date, with a text that mentions Stripe. If it finds exactly one line, it reconciles it: the money moves from 1091 to your bank account, and the line says Stripe payout.
If the payout stays Waiting for the statement line although the line has been imported:
- Click Reconcile, to the right of the payout.
- Choose the Statement line of the same amount through which it arrived.
- Click Reconcile. To Bill confirms: Payout reconciled.
If no line is offered, first import the statement in which the payout appears. See Import a bank statement.
Do not book a payout to an income account
A Stripe payout is not income: your sales are already booked with the invoices. Booking the statement line to an income account would count the turnover twice. Reconcile it as a payout.
Legal basis
- Expenses and income are not offset against each other: the invoice is booked for its full amount and the fees separately: Art. 958c para. 1 no. 7 CO.
- Payment charges are excluded from VAT: Art. 21 para. 2 no. 19 let. c VAT Act. When a provider abroad charges them, they are not subject to acquisition tax either: Art. 45a VAT Act. They are therefore booked without VAT.