---
title: "What is settlement report?"
description: "Settlement Report explained in plain English: definition, how it works, an example, and how it appears in QuickBooks and Xero."
url: https://ledgerbpo.com/glossary/settlement-report/
updated: 2026-09-11
publisher: LedgerBPO (SS Support Network LLC)
language: en-US
---

# What is settlement report?

Glossary

A settlement report is a statement issued by a payment processor or marketplace that itemizes every transaction, fee, refund and chargeback included in a specific payout, showing how the gross sales figure became the net deposit.

Updated September 2026

## How settlement report works

A settlement report is the source document that lets a bookkeeper explain a payout instead of guessing at it. It typically lists each transaction date, amount, the fee taken, and any adjustments such as refunds or disputed charges, all rolled up to the exact deposit figure that hit the bank, giving the bookkeeper a full audit trail for every dollar.

Without the settlement report, a bookkeeper only sees one lump-sum deposit in the bank feed and has no way to split it correctly between sales, fees and refunds. Pulling and reconciling settlement reports regularly is one of the main tasks in payment-processor reconciliation, especially for businesses selling through several platforms at once, where each processor formats its report differently and needs its own handling.

## Example

A processor's settlement report for the week shows gross sales of $14,600, fees of $410, refunds of $220, and a chargeback of $180, netting to a payout of $13,790. The bookkeeper uses the report to post each component separately in the general ledger, then confirms the $13,790 matches the actual bank deposit for that date.

## Settlement report in QuickBooks Online vs Xero

Most processors, including Stripe, Square and PayPal, make settlement reports available for download or through an API. QuickBooks Online and Xero do not generate these reports themselves; they rely on the processor's data, often pulled in through a connected app, to break a payout into its components.

## Common mistakes

- Skipping the settlement report and posting the bank deposit directly to sales, which buries fees, refunds and chargebacks inside a single revenue number that no longer reflects reality.
- Not pulling a settlement report for every processor a business uses, which leaves some sales channels reconciled properly and others recorded as an unexplained lump-sum deposit.
- Filing settlement reports away without comparing the net total to the actual bank deposit, which can let a processor error or missing deposit go unnoticed for a full cycle.

## Why it matters

Without the settlement report, a business has no way to prove why a deposit is smaller than its sales, which makes it hard to trust the numbers going to a lender, investor or tax preparer. For a business selling across multiple processors, settlement reports are the only way to see gross revenue and collection costs by channel. Reconciling them every cycle keeps financial statements defensible instead of built on guesswork.

## Related terms

- [Payout](https://ledgerbpo.com/glossary/payout/)
- [Merchant fee](https://ledgerbpo.com/glossary/merchant-fee/)
- [Chargeback](https://ledgerbpo.com/glossary/chargeback/)
- [All terms](https://ledgerbpo.com/glossary/)

## How LedgerBPO handles settlement report

We pull settlement reports from each of your processors every payout cycle and use them to reconcile gross sales, fees, refunds and chargebacks down to the exact deposit in your bank feed, so nothing is left as an unexplained lump sum.

[Stripe, Shopify, Amazon and PayPal payouts that tie out](https://ledgerbpo.com/services/payment-processor-reconciliation/)

Next step

## Books closed. Invoices paid. Every month.

Tell us what is going on with your books or billing. You will hear from a named person within 1 business day, with a custom quote and a plan for the first close.

- Reply from a named person within 1 business day
- No setup fee, month-to-month
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[Get a custom quote](https://ledgerbpo.com/get-a-quote/) [Book a 20-minute call](https://ledgerbpo.com/book-a-call/) Or call [+1-657-777-0006](tel:+16577770006) during US, UK or Australian business hours.

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Source: https://ledgerbpo.com/glossary/settlement-report/ · Contact: https://ledgerbpo.com/contact/ · Full site map for agents: https://ledgerbpo.com/llms.txt