Set Up an Expense Account for Merchant Discount Fees

How Do I...

To accept credit card payments from your customers, you must have an online merchant account. Merchant account providers usually deduct discount fees and service charges from your bank account for the credit card processing service that they provide. Your bank statements will reflect various credit card processing fees (usually for a month-long period).

Before you can record the merchant account discount fees in Sage 50 and reconcile your bank statements, you need to set up a merchant expense account in your chart of accounts.

From the Maintain menu, select Chart of Accounts. Sage 50 displays the Maintain Chart of Accounts window.
Enter a new account ID that corresponds with the expense area of your chart of accounts.
Type a description for your account (for example, CC Processing Fees).

Tip: Depending on the detail you want to track, you may want to set up two merchant expense accounts: CC Discount Fee (fees charged for each transaction that is processed) and CC Service Charge (monthly service charges and set up fees). If discount rates are different depending on the credit card type (for example, America Express, VISA/MasterCard, and Discover), you may want to enter and track separate discount expenses (for example, AMEX Discount Fee, VISA-MC Discount Fee, and Discover Discount Fee).

Select Expense as the account type, and select the Save button.

Set Up an Expense Account for Merchant Discount Fees

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