1. Your PayPal activity download
The CSV from Activity > Statements > Activity download (completed payments or all transactions, with the Balance column). Several currencies in one file are journalled separately; pending, denied and memo rows are skipped.
Choose a file or paste the text, then click Read, check and build journals.
Result
Balance check
| Account | Date | Balance column moved | Journals move | Agrees |
|---|
Journals
| Journal | Date | Account | Debit | Credit | Memo |
|---|
Download
The accounts must already exist in your software under these names or codes. Post the journals, then match the bank feed to the bank transfer clearing account.
The model, and what it leaves out
- Rows: each row has a date, type, status, currency, gross, fee (negative) and net, and usually the balance after it. Rows whose Balance Impact is Memo, and pending, denied or cancelled rows, do not move the balance and are skipped. Amounts are read to cents; European
1.234,56and US1,234.56both work, and dates can be read as MM/DD or DD/MM. - Balance check: the opening balance is the first balance minus its own net, and every later row must land on the previous balance plus its net. Where it does not, the page names the row. The file is read oldest-first whichever way PayPal sorted it.
- Categories: payment, checkout, invoice, subscription and donation types to sales (gross, not net), refunds to refunds, chargebacks, disputes, holds and reserves to disputes, the fee column to PayPal fees, withdrawals and bank deposits to bank transfer clearing, currency conversion to its own line, money sent to payments sent, and anything else to an uncategorised line.
- Month split: rows are grouped by date. A journal is dated the month end, or the last row date for the last month. Each journal balances to the PayPal account line, so the line holds exactly that month's movement.
- Not checked: that the activity agrees with your bank statement or your books, tax treatment anywhere, per-customer revenue recognition, currency conversion between accounts, and that the accounts exist in your software.
Common questions
How do I turn a PayPal activity report into a journal entry?
In PayPal open Activity, then Statements, then Activity download, choose the date range and download the CSV (include the Balance column). Paste it here and press Read, check and build journals. The page walks the Balance column row by row to prove nothing is missing, groups the rows into sales, fees, refunds, disputes, payments sent and bank transfers, and writes a journal that moves a PayPal account line by exactly what the balance moved.
Why does the page check the Balance column?
Every PayPal row says what the balance was after it. If opening balance plus each net does not land on the next balance, a row is missing or the file is out of order, and a journal built from it would be wrong. The page names the first rows where the chain breaks so you can fix the download before you post anything.
Why is the month split at month end?
A PayPal download rarely starts and ends on a month boundary, and posting everything in one month puts September sales and fees into October. By default this page writes one journal per month, each balanced to the PayPal account line, and the chain of balances stays continuous across them.
How are fees and refunds booked?
PayPal's net is the payment minus its fee. Booking the net hides the fee and understates revenue, so the gross payment goes to sales and the fee to a PayPal fees account. A refund books the money returned to refunds and any fee PayPal gives back reduces the fee line.
What happens to money moved to my bank?
Withdrawals and bank deposits go to a bank transfer clearing account. When you import the bank feed, matching its lines to that clearing account brings it back to zero, which is the cheap proof the two sides agree.
Which accounting software can I import to?
Xero (manual journal CSV), QuickBooks Online (journal entry CSV), QuickBooks Desktop (IIF general journal) and a plain CSV for anything else. You can rename the accounts for each category before downloading so they match your chart of accounts.
Is it safe to paste a PayPal download into a web page?
The page runs in your browser, the file is read locally and nothing is uploaded; a test in the code asserts there are no network calls. The download includes customer names and email addresses, so keep it to your own machine and delete it when you are done.
What does this not check?
Whether the activity matches your bank statement or your books, tax treatment in any jurisdiction, per-customer revenue recognition, currencies converted between accounts, and account names or codes that must already exist in your accounting software.