Download PayPal Transactions into QuickBooks

Quick Answer: In QuickBooks Online, install Intuit's PayPal connector from the app search, sign in to PayPal, and choose the PayPal balance account and the bank you withdraw to; transactions then arrive for review. Without the connector, or in QuickBooks Desktop, download an activity report from PayPal (CSV, or PayPal's QuickBooks format) and import it into a separate PayPal account in QuickBooks.

To download PayPal transactions into QuickBooks, treat PayPal as a bank account of its own. Sales land there at the gross amount, PayPal's fees come out as an expense, and withdrawals to your checking account are transfers. Whether the lines arrive through Intuit's PayPal connector or a downloaded file, that three-part structure is what keeps income, fees and your bank balance correct.

Which method should you use?

How do you connect PayPal to QuickBooks Online?

Intuit's article on connecting QuickBooks Online to PayPal describes these steps:

1. In QuickBooks Online, type "find integrations" in the search bar.
2. Find the PayPal Connector by QuickBooks app and select Get Integration Now.
3. Review the list of setup steps and select Continue.
4. Sign in with your PayPal username and password.
5. Confirm the two accounts the app asks for: the PayPal balance account, which tracks money held in PayPal, and the deposit account, the bank account you transfer PayPal money to.
6. Choose how much history to bring in. The default is the last six months; you can set a custom range instead.
7. Decide whether transactions are recorded automatically or wait for your confirmation. You can change this later.

Afterwards, review incoming lines under Integration Transactions, where you confirm or match them. Intuit's Connect to PayPal FAQ adds a few details worth knowing before you rely on it: the app checks PayPal every three hours, imports everything that changes the PayPal balance except temporary holds and releases, and works with QuickBooks Online but not QuickBooks Self-Employed. Adding history after setup requires disconnecting and reconnecting.

Start with manual confirmation for the first month. Automatic recording is convenient, but you want to see how the app treats your particular mix of sales, refunds and transfers before it posts unattended.

How are PayPal fees, transfers and refunds recorded?

A $100 sale with a $3.20 fee (an illustrative figure; your rate depends on the transaction) should end up like this:

Per Intuit's FAQ, the connector pulls the fee with each sale and records it as an expense on the PayPal account, so you see the gross sale and the fee rather than one net figure. One-off fees, such as chargeback fees, usually arrive as separate expense lines.

The withdrawal is the step most often mishandled. If your checking account is also connected to QuickBooks, the same $96.80 appears there as a deposit. Match it as a transfer from the PayPal account; categorizing it as income counts the sale twice.

Refunds are negative sales. Record them against the same income account (or a refunds contra-income account if your accountant prefers), and note that PayPal may or may not return its original fee, which shows up as a separate line.

How do you download PayPal activity as a file?

PayPal's help page on viewing and downloading statements and reports describes two routes:

• Activity download: go to History, select the download icon, choose Custom, pick the report type and date range, and download when it is ready. Formats include PDF, Quicken, QuickBooks, CSV and TAB. You can request up to 12 months at a time, reaching back up to seven years. Large logs can take up to five business days and PayPal emails you when they are ready.
• Monthly statements: request the month you want from the statements page, then download it as PDF or CSV.

For QuickBooks Online, choose CSV. Before uploading, trim it to date, description and a single amount column (or separate debit and credit columns), remove rows that are holds, and keep fees as their own rows if the export lists them separately. Then go to Bank transactions, choose Upload from file, and point it at the PayPal account you created in your chart of accounts. Our guide to converting a PayPal statement to CSV shows how the columns line up.

For QuickBooks Desktop, use PayPal's QuickBooks download option and check the file extension before importing. Intuit's IIF tasks article lists transferring PayPal transaction data as one of the things IIF is for, imported through File > Utilities > Import > .IIF Files. It also says imports cannot be undone, so back up the company file and test with a short date range.

What if you only have PDF statements?

Some people inherit a books clean-up with nothing but a folder of PayPal statement PDFs. Rather than typing them, QuickBankConvert can read a statement PDF into rows, which you then download as CSV or Excel for free accounts, or as a .QBO file for QuickBooks on Plus and above (details on pricing). The PDF to QBO page explains that format. Whichever file you produce, compare the opening and closing balances on the statement with the sum of the imported rows before you categorize anything.

How do you avoid duplicates and currency problems?

• One source per date range. If the connector brought in March onward, only import files for February and earlier.
• Create the PayPal account first as a bank-type account in QuickBooks, so imported lines and the connector use the same register.
• Multi-currency balances: Intuit's FAQ states the connector does not support currency conversion transactions. Hold each currency in its own account in QuickBooks, import that currency's activity separately, and record conversions with a transfer or journal entry at the rate PayPal applied.
• Reconcile monthly against PayPal's statement balance, the same way you reconcile a bank. See how to reconcile in QuickBooks Online.

Related guides

• Import bank transactions into QuickBooks Online
• Convert a PayPal statement to CSV
• QuickBooks integration overview
• Categorize bank transactions in QuickBooks Online