Forecast the customer’s remaining invoice balance at gross value, then bridge processing fees separately when translating collected receivables into bank cash. A fee does not mean the customer short-paid the invoice, and the net deposit should not be substituted for the invoice’s paid amount.
Intuit’s deposit-and-fee guidance explains that QuickBooks Payments can record a batch deposit and a separate fee withdrawal after transactions settle. Intuit’s payment-processing guidance distinguishes the deposit account from the processing-fee expense account.
Keep the receivable and settlement views separate
The receivables view asks how much the customer owed and how much of that obligation was paid. The bank-cash view asks how much cash arrived after processor movements. Combining the two creates false exceptions.
For example, when a customer pays an invoice in full and the processor deducts its fee separately, the invoice can correctly have a zero remaining balance while the related net bank effect is lower than the gross payment. That difference is a settlement bridge, not unpaid AR.
Track at least four records:
- gross invoice balance before payment;
- gross customer payment applied to the invoice;
- bank deposit or batch deposit;
- processing-fee withdrawal or expense entry.
Avoid calculating a fee from an assumed rate. Use only the recorded processor and bank evidence for the transaction or batch.
Four-week forecast treatment
Before collection, forecast no more than the supported remaining invoice balance. If known processor fees are useful for a bank-liquidity view, show them as a separate expected cash-out assumption with a clear source and review rule. Do not reduce each open invoice unless the allocation is supported and the business actually needs an invoice-level net-cash view.
After payment, mark the invoice collection at the gross amount applied. Reconcile the later deposit and fee entries at the batch or transaction level. If the deposit has not settled, use a payment-in-transit status rather than treating the invoice as still collectible.
The partial-payment guide covers genuine remaining customer balances. The short-paid invoice guide covers cases where the customer actually remits less than the amount due.
Exception checks
Review a difference when the invoice was not fully paid, the fee was posted against accounts receivable, the deposit batch omits a payment, a refund or chargeback changed the settlement, or the same fee appears twice. Preserve invoice, payment, deposit, and fee identifiers so the bridge is reproducible.
The cash receipt cutoff guide helps define what counts as observed by the review date. Finance teams can also view the AR Pulse example to see why invoice evidence and later bank evidence should remain traceable rather than collapsed into one number.