1. Export the file from Square
- Sign in to the Square Dashboard on a computer.
- Open Transactions and choose the date range.
- Click Export and choose Transactions CSV.
- Upload the downloaded file here.
Why a raw Square export fails in QuickBooks Online (journal entry import)
Your bank receives Square deposits that are card sales minus refunds and processing fees, and they also carry tips and gift cards you sold, which are not sales. The export names the deposit that paid each row, so the converter writes one journal entry per deposit, with sales, tips, gift card sales, refunds and fees on their own lines and the deposit on the bank line.
Importing every sale from a payment platform straight into the bank account never matches the bank, because the platform pays out one net amount after taking its fees and refunds. The usual fix is one summary journal entry per payout (or per month when the export does not link sales to payouts): gross sales counts only money received, payments you sent get their own line, fees on a payout or instant transfer are expensed so the bank line is only what arrived, payments the export clearly marks as funded by a card go to a card account instead of the bank (unclear funding labels go to the bank, with a note), and a chargeback you win reduces refunds. You then match the bank line against the deposit in your bank feed.
What is unusual about the Square file
- One row per payment or refund, newest first, with Gross Sales, Tax, Tip, Total Collected, Fees and Net Total columns.
- Amounts look like "$1,234.56" and "-$184.28"; fees are negative and Net Total is Total Collected plus Fees.
- Sales paid in cash, by Square gift card or another non-card tender never reach a Square deposit, so they are left out; mixed payments keep only their card part. Gift card payments are not new income: the money came in when the card was sold.
- Tips and gift card sales are not sales revenue: journal entries book them to their own accounts (Tips owed to staff, Gift card liability).
- A non-zero Partial Refunds cell gets a warning, because it is not confirmed whether Square also lists that refund as its own row.
- Deposit ID and Deposit Date say which deposit paid each row; rows not yet deposited have none.
- Dates and times are in the Square account time zone and are used as written.
- The file does not name its currency; amounts are treated as US dollars unless they show pounds or euros.
What QuickBooks Online (journal entry import) requires
- Each entry shares one Journal No. and date, and its debits equal its credits.
- Lines show gross sales (money received), refunds, fees, taxes, payments you sent (on their own line, not deducted from sales), transfers between the platform and your bank (booked as transfers, never as income or expense), and the deposit that hit your bank.
- Account names must match your chart of accounts exactly; subaccounts as Parent:Sub.
- Up to 1,000 lines per file (we split bigger files without breaking an entry).
2. Before and after
Before: the Square transactions CSV as downloaded
Date,Time,Time Zone,Gross Sales,Discounts,Service Charges,Net Sales,Gift Card Sales,Tax,Tip,Partial Refunds,Total Collected,Source,Card,Card Entry ... 2024-08-24,15:20:01,Pacific Time (US & Canada),$19.05,$0.00,$0.00,$19.05,$0.00,$0.95,$0.00,$0.00,$20.00,Point of Sale,$20.00,Tapped,$0.00,$0.00,$0.... 2024-08-24,12:00:00,Pacific Time (US & Canada),$15.00,$0.00,$0.00,$15.00,$0.00,$0.00,$0.00,$0.00,$15.00,Point of Sale,$0.00,N/A,$15.00,$0.00,$0.00,... 2024-08-23,18:30:00,Pacific Time (US & Canada),$50.00,$0.00,$0.00,$50.00,$0.00,$0.00,$0.00,$0.00,$50.00,Point of Sale,$30.00,Keyed,$20.00,$0.00,$0.... 2024-08-23,10:00:00,Pacific Time (US & Canada),-$35.00,$0.00,$0.00,-$35.00,$0.00,$0.00,$0.00,$0.00,-$35.00,Point of Sale,-$35.00,Tapped,$0.00,$0.00... 2024-08-22,09:15:00,Pacific Time (US & Canada),"$1,234.56",$0.00,$0.00,"$1,234.56",$0.00,$0.00,$0.00,$0.00,"$1,234.56",Point of Sale,"$1,234.56",Ke... 2024-08-21,08:00:00,Pacific Time (US & Canada),$0.00,$0.00,$0.00,$0.00,$0.00,$0.00,$0.00,$0.00,$0.00,Point of Sale,$0.00,,$0.00,$0.00,$0.00,,,$0.00...
After: what QuickBooks Online (journal entry import) receives
| Journal No. | Journal Date | Account Name | Debits | Credits | Description | Name |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| BR-20240823-1 | 08/23/2024 | Sales of Product Income | 1234.56 | Gross sales - Square payout DEPSQ0 | ||
| BR-20240823-1 | 08/23/2024 | Bank Charges & Fees | 32.72 | Fees - Square payout DEPSQ0 | ||
| BR-20240823-1 | 08/23/2024 | Checking | 1201.84 | Deposit - Square payout DEPSQ0 | ||
| BR-20240824-1 | 08/24/2024 | Sales of Product Income | 20.00 | Gross sales - Square activity not yet paid out | ||
| BR-20240824-1 | 08/24/2024 | Bank Charges & Fees | 0.53 | Fees - Square activity not yet paid out | ||
| BR-20240824-1 | 08/24/2024 | Uncategorized Asset | 19.47 | Kept in Square balance - Square activity not yet paid out |
Synthetic sample data that follows the real export layout, not a real account. The "after" output was produced from it by the same converter this page runs.
3. Import the converted file into QuickBooks Online (journal entry import)
- Make sure every account named in the file exists in your chart of accounts (or change the account names before downloading).
- In QuickBooks Online go to Settings (gear) > Import data > Journal entries.
- Upload this CSV and map Journal No., Journal Date, Account Name, Debits, Credits, Description and Name.
- Review and import. Each payout (or month) becomes one balanced entry.
Questions
- What happens to cash sales in the Square export?
- Cash, Square gift card and other non-card payments never pass through your Square balance or a Square deposit, so the converter leaves them out and gives the total for each kind. When a sale was paid partly by card, only the card part is kept. Record cash with your cash takings. A gift card payment is not new money: it came in when the card was sold, so move it from your gift card liability account to sales instead of recording it again.
- Why record payouts as a journal entry instead of importing every sale?
- Your bank receives one deposit per payout, already reduced by fees and refunds. If each sale goes into the bank account separately, the bank feed shows one deposit you cannot match to dozens of entries. A journal entry per payout records gross sales, fees and refunds in their own accounts, and a bank line of exactly the deposit amount.
- Is the sales tax in the Square export my income?
- Sales tax you collect through Square is part of the totals in the export. The converter keeps it inside the sale amount and tells you how much it is, so you can move it to a sales tax account. How to treat it is a question for whoever prepares your return.
- Which accounts should the journal entry use?
- Every account named in the file has to exist in your QuickBooks chart of accounts already, so set the account names in the options to the ones you use: sales, fees, payments you sent, the clearing account for money still held by the platform, the bank account that receives transfers, and the card account for payments the export clearly marks as paid from a card. This is not accounting advice; ask whoever prepares your return if you are unsure.
Other ways to convert Square
- Convert a Square transactions CSV to QuickBooks Online
- Import a Square transactions CSV into Xero
- Square CSV to QBO for QuickBooks
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