Payments & Accounting
Reconciling a Stripe Deposit in Xero
By Andrew Hemphill Β· 13 January 2026
The biggest benefit of taking deposits through Puree is the experience it gives your customer. They receive a payment link, click it, and pay by credit card in seconds. No separate invoice to raise. No waiting. No chasing. Once they've paid, Stripe automatically sends them a payment receipt they can download and keep β a professional touch that builds trust.
The steps below cover what you need to do in Xero once the money arrives in your bank.
What Lands in Your Bank
Both Stripe and Puree deduct a small processing fee before paying out, so the amount in your bank will be less than what the customer paid. You can see an example below of a deposit of $1,150.
Reconcile the Bank Transaction
When the Stripe payout appears in your Xero bank feed, go to reconcile it. Rather than matching it to an invoice, you'll create a new transaction. The transaction must balance to the net payout amount before you can save, so you'll need two lines β one for the prepayment and one for the difference.
- On the bank feed transaction, select New Transaction β Receive Money.
- In the Name field, enter the customer name β this must match exactly (see note below).
- Enter the deposit amount (e.g. $1,150.00).
- Click the Prepayment button β don't leave it as a regular Receive Money.
- Set the account to your deposits liability account (e.g. Deposits Received). If you don't have one, ask your accountant to set one up.
- Add a second line for the difference ($17.12) and code it to a Payment Processing Fees or Bank Charges expense account.
- The two lines now total $1,132.88 β save the transaction and Xero will reconcile it.
Important β customer name must match exactly: The contact name on the prepayment must be the exact same name as the customer on the Puree quote. If the names differ even slightly, Xero will treat them as separate contacts and you won't be able to apply the deposit to the final invoice.
Note: The more technically correct approach is to record the surcharge ($31.63) as income and the Puree and Stripe fees ($48.75 combined) as separate expenses. This gives a cleaner picture of your processing costs in your accounts. Either approach works β check with your accountant about which they prefer.
Apply the Prepayment to the Final Invoice
When the job is done and the final invoice is ready in Xero, open it and save it. Because the customer name matches the prepayment, Xero will automatically prompt you to allocate the prepayment to the invoice. Accept it and the invoice balance will reduce by $1,150.00 β the customer is only charged the remainder.
You can also check whether a prepayment exists for a customer before reaching this step β in Puree, hover over the Xero button on the quotes list and it will show any prepayments recorded against that contact in Xero.
Need Help?
If you're unsure about any of these steps, reach out to the Puree support team and we'll point you in the right direction.
Puree is catering management software, not an accounting service. The information in this article is provided as general guidance only and does not constitute accounting or financial advice. Please consult your accountant or bookkeeper for advice specific to your business.