Charlie Blomkvist
A payout from Klarna or Shopify Payments is the net of your sales, minus returns and fees, paid out as a lump sum a few days after the orders. Booking it correctly means every order is paid in the ledger, the fee and its VAT are booked separately, and only the net lands on the bank. Inside it are hundreds of sales, a few returns, the fees and the VAT on the fees. The bank statement shows one amount. The books need to know which orders were paid, what Klarna took, and that it all adds up. This guide shows how we book it in Visma Net: the principle, the accounts, and how every order is matched to the öre. Klarna is the example, but the same model applies to every payment provider at checkout: Shopify Payments, Svea, Walley, Swedbank Pay (formerly PayEx), Stripe, PayPal and Swish. One clearing account per provider, and the payout matched to the orders. The guide assumes the invoice method, which companies with an ERP use; if you book on a cash basis, the sale is booked when the money arrives instead. It is part of Click to Cash (in Swedish), our Visma Net setup for e-commerce.
Short answer: how do you book Klarna payouts?
- Book the sale when the order is invoiced, gross, as usual.
- Register the customer's payment against a clearing account for the payment provider, not against the bank. Klarna on 1582, Shopify Payments on 1581.
- When the payout arrives, book the settlement report in one journal entry: credit the clearing account order by order, debit the returns, book the fee as a cost with its VAT, and debit the net to the bank.
- The clearing account should then be at zero for that payout. If it is not, there is a discrepancy, and it should be found before the entry is posted.
- Visma Net's bank reconciliation then matches the amount on 1930 against the bank statement.
Why a payout is hard to book
Three things make it hard, and all three have to be solved.
The order is placed on Monday, invoiced on Tuesday, and Klarna pays out the week after. The sale belongs to one period, the money arrives in the next.
One line on the bank statement. Behind it: every sale, every return deducted, the fee per order and the VAT on the fee. Klarna reports them in the settlement report, the avräkningsnota, line by line, as SALE, RETURN and FEE.
The bank statement shows Klarna's payout reference, not your order numbers. Without a key between Klarna's lines and your payments, there is no way to know which orders were paid.
The usual workaround is to book the lump sum against sales, or against an account called Klarna, and reconcile in a spreadsheet. Then the receivables ledger never closes, nobody knows which orders were actually paid, and the fee disappears into the net.
The accounts: one clearing account per payment provider
Under 1580, receivables for card payments and vouchers, in the Swedish BAS chart. Its own cash account in Visma Net, so every payout can be reconciled on its own.
Same principle. Klarna pays out separately and with its own fee structure, so Klarna gets its own account.
The fees, or 6064 factoring fees if you treat Klarna as factoring. Pick one account and stick to it. Klarna charges VAT on its fee, and it is booked as input VAT on 2641.
Where the net lands. Only what was actually paid out is booked here.
In Visma Net each clearing account is a cash account, and the payment methods, one for Klarna and one for Shopify Payments, are linked to their cash account. The customer payment points at the payment method, not at the account. One thing to get right from the start: the account needs a currency in the chart of accounts before it can become a cash account, and once something is posted to it the currency cannot be changed.
Step 1: the customer's payment lands on the clearing account
When the order is paid in Shopify, the integration registers a prepayment on the sales order in Visma Net, with the payment method Klarna, the cash account 1582 and a payment reference. The reference is Shopify's payment id, and it is the same id Klarna carries in its settlement, as merchant_reference1. That is the whole key: every line in the payout can be looked up against exactly one payment in Visma Net.
When the order is invoiced, the prepayment is applied to the invoice, the balance becomes zero and the invoice closes. So the receivables ledger is correct the day the order ships, not the day Klarna pays out.
Step 2: the payout becomes a journal entry
Klarna publishes two things per payout: the payout itself, with reference, date and amount paid, and the settlement report behind it, with one line per event. The integration fetches both from Klarna's settlements API, matches every sale line against the payment on 1582 with the same reference, and builds the entry.
| Line | Account | Debit | Credit | What |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Every sale | 1582 | The amount | Klarna's order id as reference, your order in the text | |
| Every return | 1582 | The amount | The refund Klarna deducted | |
| The fees | 6570 | The fee | Per order, summed | |
| VAT on the fee | 2641 | The VAT | Klarna charges VAT on its fee; other providers only when they do | |
| Paid out | 1930 | The net | The amount on the bank statement |
Amounts from Klarna's test environment. The lines sum to zero when everything matches.
The entry is created on hold in Visma Net. It is not posted until someone at your company releases it, and that is the approval. Visma Net always posts in two steps, save and release, and we use the second step as the checkpoint. You can see who released it and when.
When it does not add up
The integration flags three kinds of discrepancies, and they are listed before you release.
A line in Klarna's settlement that finds no payment in Visma Net. The order was not synced, or was paid outside the flow.
Klarna says SEK 1,300, the payment in Visma Net is SEK 1,368. Usually a partial capture or a discount applied afterwards.
The lines and the amount paid out do not add up. Klarna has added a correction or a commission that is not an ordinary fee.
Discrepancies should be investigated before the entry is released. That is the point of booking the payout order by order: what does not match is visible, instead of disappearing into a lump sum.
Step 3: the bank
The amount on 1930 is matched against the bank statement in Visma Net's bank reconciliation, with a bank file or AutoPay. That is standard in Visma Net, and nothing we built. One line on the statement matches one journal entry, not four hundred orders.
Returns
The return is registered in the warehouse when the parcel comes back, and a credit note is created against the original order in Visma Net. Klarna deducts the refund in the next payout, as a return line. In the entry, the clearing account is debited with the amount, and the line is matched against the credit note. How the return travels from Shopify to Visma Net is described in Shopify and Visma Net: how the integration works.
Booking Shopify payouts: the same model
Shopify Payments pays out the same way: a lump sum that is the sales minus Shopify's transaction fee and minus the refunds. The source document is the payouts report under Finance in Shopify, and through the API Shopify gives, per transaction, the amount, fee, net, which order and which payout it belongs to. That is enough to split the payout into orders and fee.
The accounts are the same: the payment on 1581 when the order is paid, the fee on 6570, the net on 1930. If Shopify charges VAT on the fee, it is booked on 2641. If you book by hand, you make one journal entry per payout from the report, with the clearing account at zero as the check. Shopify Payments and card acquiring follow the same model.
Swish, Stripe and PayPal: the same model, three different rhythms
The model is the same for every payment provider, including Svea, Walley and Swedbank Pay: one clearing account per provider under 1580, the fee as a separate cost, and only what actually reaches the bank booked on 1930. What differs is how the money arrives.
The money lands in your bank account payment by payment, with no lump sum and no deductions. The bank invoices the per-payment fee separately. A clearing account is only needed if you want to match the Swish lines on the bank statement to orders before they are booked; otherwise the payment goes straight to 1930 with the Swish number as reference.
Pays out like Shopify Payments: a lump sum net of Stripe's fee, on a schedule you choose. Stripe's payout report and API give amount, fee and net per transaction, so the payout is split into orders and fees the same way. Its own clearing account, for example 1583.
The money accumulates in your PayPal balance, and you transfer it to the bank manually or automatically. The balance is the clearing account: sales are credited there order by order, the fee is booked when PayPal deducts it, and the transfer to the bank is a transfer from the clearing account to 1930.
Whatever the provider, the check is the same: once the payout is booked, the clearing account must be at zero for that payout, and every order must be paid in the ledger. If the provider charges VAT on its fee, the settlement shows it, and that VAT is booked on 2641.
What Visma Net does itself, and what the integration brings in
Visma Net has no built-in settlement against payment providers. What it has are the building blocks: cash accounts, payment methods, customer payments, bank reconciliation and two-step posting. The integration brings in what Visma Net cannot know by itself.
No
The prepayment on the clearing account, with the payment reference
No
The entry: clearing account to bank, the fee as a cost
Yes, bank reconciliation matches it
Nothing
Yes, when the prepayment is applied
Nothing
When you release it
Creates it on hold, with discrepancies listed
Visma's catalog has ready-made Klarna connectors that match consolidated payouts against invoices. Ours is used when the payout should be matched to the prepayments order by order, with approval before anything is posted.
How other systems do it
Fortnox's own Shopify connector books Shopify Payments payouts automatically and creates one journal entry per day. It requires SEK as the payout currency, and orders do not come in: for orders, items and stock you need a third-party hub.
The Shopify connector posts the transactions against the invoices and imports the payouts as supporting information. The payout itself is reconciled in the bank reconciliation against an interim account per payment provider, where the fee is written off, often with the partner's help or an app.
No built-in settlement against payment providers, but cash accounts, payment methods and two-step posting are there. That is what the integration builds on: every order matched, and you approve.
A payout is not revenue. It is the receipt that a hundred invoices were paid, minus what it cost.
Frequently asked questions
How do you book Klarna payouts?
The sale is booked gross when the order is invoiced. The customer's payment is registered against a clearing account for Klarna, 1582. When the payout arrives, the clearing account is credited order by order, returns are debited, the fee is booked on 6570 with any VAT on 2641, and the net is debited to 1930. The clearing account should then be at zero for the payout.
How do you book Klarna's settlement report?
The settlement report is the lines behind the payout: every sale, every return, the fees and the VAT on them. It is booked as one journal entry per payout, where every sale line credits the clearing account, returns debit it, the fee goes to a cost account with the VAT on 2641 and the net to 1930. If the lines add up, the clearing account is at zero.
How do you book sales through Klarna?
With the invoice method, the sale is booked when the order is invoiced, gross, like any other sale, and the customer's payment through Klarna is registered against the clearing account 1582, so the invoice is paid in the ledger. The payout from Klarna is then booked separately. If you book on a cash basis, the sale is booked the day the money arrives instead, straight from the settlement report.
Which account do you book Klarna on?
A separate clearing account under 1580, receivables for card payments and vouchers, in the Swedish BAS chart. We use 1582 for Klarna and 1581 for Shopify Payments. One account per provider means every payout can be reconciled on its own.
How do you book Klarna's fee and the VAT on it?
The fee is a cost, on 6570 bank charges or 6064 factoring fees. Klarna charges VAT on its fee, and it is booked as input VAT on 2641. The settlement report states the VAT amount per fee line, so it comes with the entry instead of being calculated.
How do you book payouts from Shopify Payments?
The same way, with 1581 as the clearing account. Shopify's API gives, per transaction, the amount, fee, net, order and payout, so the payout can be split into orders and fee.
How do you book Shopify's fee?
As a cost, on 6570 bank charges, in the same journal entry as the payout. Shopify states the fee per transaction in the payouts report and through the API, so it is booked per payout without being calculated. If Shopify charges VAT on the fee, it is booked on 2641.
What accounting records do Shopify and Klarna provide?
Shopify: the payouts report under Finance, with amount, fee and net per transaction, and the same data through the API. Klarna: the settlement report per payout, with one line per sale, return and fee, and the same data through Klarna's settlements API. Those are the records the integration reads, and they are enough to book every payout to the öre.
How do you book Swish payments in a web shop?
Swish Handel deposits every payment directly into the bank account, with no lump sum and no deductions, so the payment is booked against 1930 with the Swish number as reference and the invoice is settled in the ledger. The bank invoices the fee separately, booked as a bank charge. If you want to match the Swish lines to orders before booking, they go through a clearing account, just like Klarna.
How do you book Stripe payouts?
Like Shopify Payments: the customer's payment is registered against a clearing account for Stripe, and when Stripe pays out the net amount, the payout is split into orders, fee and net from Stripe's payout report. The clearing account must be at zero once the payout is booked.
How do you book PayPal?
The PayPal balance is the clearing account. Sales are credited there order by order, PayPal's fee is booked as a cost when it is deducted, and the transfer from PayPal to the bank is booked as a transfer from the clearing account to 1930.
Why does Klarna's payout not match the sales?
Because the payout is the net: sales minus returns, fees and VAT on fees, and because it collects orders from several days. If every order is booked against the clearing account with its reference, exactly what differs is visible, line by line.
How are returns handled in the payout?
Klarna deducts the refund in the next payout as a return line. The clearing account is debited with the amount, and the line is matched against the credit note created when the return was registered in Visma Net.
Does Visma Net book Klarna payouts automatically?
No. Visma Net has cash accounts, payment methods and bank reconciliation, but no built-in settlement against Klarna. The integration fetches the settlement, matches the lines and creates the entry on hold. Someone at your company releases it, and only then is it posted.
Do we need one clearing account per payment provider?
Yes, that is what we recommend. Klarna and Shopify Payments pay out separately, with their own fees and references. With one account per provider, each account should be at zero when that provider's payout is booked, and a discrepancy points straight at the right provider.
Is there a ready-made Klarna connector for Visma Net?
Yes, Visma's catalog has connectors that match consolidated payouts against invoices and book the fees separately. Our own integration is used when the payout should be matched against the prepayments order by order, with approval before anything is posted.
Can we close the month before Klarna has paid out?
Yes. The sale is booked when the order is invoiced, and the payment sits on the clearing account. The payout only moves money between balance sheet accounts. What has to be right at month end is that the balance on the clearing account equals the payouts that have not yet arrived.
Next steps
The full flow from click to booked, with inventory and shipments, is on Click to Cash for e-commerce (in Swedish). If you run Fortnox today, read Visma Net vs Fortnox; if the choice is between Visma Net and Business Central, read that comparison. And what Visma Net costs has its own page. For the full picture of ERP systems for online stores, read ERP for e-commerce 2026: how to choose. And ERP for Shopify: how to choose if the choice is between accounting per day and ERP per order.