Quick Answer
Shopify payouts are not your taxable revenue — your gross sales are. Proper Shopify bookkeeping means reconciling payouts against gross sales, tracking platform fees as expenses, and recording GST/HST collected separately from income.
Most new Shopify sellers make the same bookkeeping mistake: they record their Shopify payout deposit as their "revenue." But your Shopify payout is your gross sales minus Shopify fees, refunds, and GST/HST collected. Recording the payout as revenue means your books will understate sales and miscategorize expenses.
How Shopify Payouts Actually Work
Shopify Payments processes your customer payments and batches them into payouts deposited to your bank account every 1–3 business days. Each payout is a net amount after deducting:
- Shopify Payments transaction fees
- Refunds issued to customers
- Chargebacks (if any)
- Shopify Payments reserve holds (for new accounts)
Your gross sales for the period — the number on your Shopify analytics dashboard — is what you declare as revenue for tax purposes.
Setting Up Shopify Bookkeeping
The recommended workflow for Canadian Shopify sellers:
- Connect Shopify to an accounting app (QuickBooks, Xero, or Wave)
- Use a dedicated app like A2X or Synder to automate payout reconciliation
- Set up separate income accounts for sales vs. GST/HST collected
- Set up expense accounts for Shopify fees, shipping, and advertising
- Reconcile monthly against your Shopify Payments dashboard and bank statement
Tracking GST/HST in Your Books
GST/HST collected from customers is not your income — it's a liability you hold temporarily until you remit it to the CRA. In your accounting software, set up a GST/HST payable account and post all tax collected there. When you file your return and remit the net amount, you clear this liability.
The Most Common Shopify Bookkeeping Mistake
Posting Shopify payouts directly to sales revenue without reconciling to gross sales. This understates your revenue, misclassifies fees as untracked deductions, and creates a nightmare at tax time when your bank deposits don't match your declared income.
Records to Keep
- Shopify monthly sales reports (download from Analytics)
- Shopify Payments payout reports
- All supplier and inventory invoices
- Advertising spend reports (Meta, Google)
- Shipping receipts and labels
Let MaxRefund Handle Your Shopify Books
We specialize in e-commerce bookkeeping for Canadian Shopify sellers. Monthly reconciliation, GST/HST tracking, and CRA-ready records — all included.
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