One way to report sales tax in your bookkeeping records is to debit the amount you’ve collected from your cash account and credit it to your sales revenue and sales tax payable accounts. The merchant fee will vary depending on the platform you use, but it’s details like this that you need to keep in mind when using an ecommerce platform. Luckily, there’s lots of bookkeeping software that integrates with ecommerce platforms, making it easier to manage your sales and expenses. Tax money is not the same as revenue; it’s a liability that you owe the government. Your books need to show the difference between revenue, sales tax, fees, and the final cash deposit in your bank account. Several ecommerce platforms will calculate and collect the necessary sales tax from your customers.

An accountant may do all of the above, but they’re also in charge of other finance-related tasks. For example, an accountant is often in charge of analyzing performance, writing financial reports, preparing tax documents, and setting budgets. Accounting for eCommerce is very different from other businesses and even physical brick-and-mortar accounting. How does accounting for eCommerce differ from accounting for brick-and-mortar locations? In this article, we’ll be answering all of those questions, as well as a few others.

How do I do bookkeeping for my ecommerce business?

Usually, ecommerce platforms include a sales tax portion and collect this tax from customers when they buy your products. Ecommerce bookkeeping is the process of recording and managing all financial transactions for your online store. Master ecommerce bookkeeping with our comprehensive step-by-step guide.

• You’ll have better visibility into their work hours, and it will help you with tax season as well.
• Proper expense tracking allows businesses to assess profitability and make informed decisions about resource allocation.
• It requires careful bookkeeping to ensure accurate revenue recognition.
• Ecommerce businesses can overcome challenges by using centralized inventory management systems.
• This document contains all the money coming into the company over a specific period.
• It’s an online resource that aims to empower people to set up their own virtual bookkeeping business.

But that bigger $5K check hasn’t cleared yet and is due to arrive on Week 3. But the contractor payment is due next month, meaning that $800 will be still sitting in the bank account till then. To handle these complexities effectively, businesses should employ accounting software, establish clear procedures, and automate tasks. By tracking expenses, keeping up with tax rules, and investing in training, businesses can manage finances adeptly and foster growth. Through strategic approaches and technological solutions tailored to ecommerce, businesses can thrive and make informed decisions for sustained success.

Streamline your bookkeeping services with Content Snare

When you run a business in the U.S. you pay sales tax depending on your location. These rules are clear when you’re selling within state borders, but things change when you sell interstate or internationally. You need to maintain clear records that you’ve ecommerce bookkeeping collected sales tax for every customer invoice. All of these records will have to be filled with your local tax jurisdiction according to the due date. The filling frequency varies from state-to-state, but typically it’s by mid- or end of each month.

This accounting system is best for small eCommerce businesses that only have one or two suppliers. While we’d rather work with influencers or find more products to sell, at some point of the journey we have to sit down, roll our sleeves up, and take a look at our finances. To run lean operations, set a minimal and maximum volume of inventory that you can keep, based on your budgets and cash flow projections. Chargebacks happen when a customer disputes a transaction with their bank by claiming that it was fraudulent.