Stripe charges in NetSuite

The Stripe Connector for NetSuite automates the reconciliation process for any charges or payments processed by Stripe. The connector represents these charges or payments in NetSuite based on how they’re created.

In NetSuite, a charge always represents the payment amount, not the amount that’s deposited to your bank account. The charge is in the currency of the customer’s payment method, and doesn’t include any Stripe fees. Fees and currency conversion appear on the deposit record, because charges in NetSuite are often applied against a NetSuite invoice. This ensures that the payment eliminates the accounts receivable balance created by the NetSuite invoice.

How it works

When you use the connector, the automated reconciliation process occurs as follows:

1. A Stripe payment initiates through your back-end system or the Dashboard.
2. The connector creates a payment in NetSuite and, if applicable, applies it to a NetSuite invoice.
3. After 2 days, the connector creates a deposit for the payment and moves it to the correct general ledger account.

Charges for invoices

If you use Stripe Billing, invoices automatically generate at the end of each billing period. The connector syncs that invoice to NetSuite, and then creates a payment that it applies to the invoice. If you enabled revenue recognition, the connector syncs the start and end dates of the subscription to NetSuite.

Charges without an invoice

All charges that initiate from Stripe Billing subscriptions have an associated invoice. If needed, you can also create a single charge that’s associated with a customer instead of an invoice. For example, you can use this method if your support representative needs to charge a customer an additional one-off fee.

Charges for Stripe customers

The connector syncs charges to NetSuite as a CustomerPayment under the customer associated with the charge. If specified, the connector adds the charge’s description attribute to the CustomerPayment memo.

Charges and accounts receivable

The connector creates transaction records in NetSuite for charges applied to an invoice. These transaction records debit the accounts receivable account.

If a charge isn’t applied to a Stripe invoice or created through the invoice payment page, the following happens:

• The connector won’t create the NetSuite transaction record nor debit accounts receivable.
• The payment creates credits to accounts receivable, without a corresponding debit.

For charges without an invoice, you need to manually debit the accounts receivable account by creating a journal entry or creating a NetSuite invoice for the customer.

Asynchronous payments

Stripe supports asynchronous capture of certain payment methods (for example, ACH Direct Debit. These payment methods don’t provide immediate notification of a successful or failed payment.

Balance transactions represent actual money movement and determine at which point you can account for them in an accounting system like NetSuite. When a payment has a balance transaction ID (for example, txn_123), the connector can create the payment in NetSuite. The balance transaction ID can post to the payment hours after it’s created, and is confirmation from the bank that the payment is valid. The actual funds for asynchronous payments won’t transfer immediately.

If a payment fails and doesn’t generate a balance transaction ID, the connector takes no action in NetSuite. There’s no confirmation of money movement, so the connector can’t close the payment with a refund or credit memo.

Charges without Stripe customers

You can create a charge without providing additional information about the charge. For example, if you create a charge without creating a customer first, the charge won’t associate with a customer. The connector then syncs the charge to NetSuite as a customer payment under the Stripe Unallocated Charges global customer.