Skip to content

Special Payments

Target Audience: Users, Stakeholders

Introduction

In addition to the standard subscription payment flows (online payments and invoices), Payway handles several special payment types that arise in day-to-day operations. These use dedicated clearing accounts to keep the bookkeeping clean and traceable.

This page covers reconciliation payments, reseller payments, migration opening balances, and PSP settlement reconciliation.

Reconciliation Payments

A reconciliation payment is a manual adjustment registered by customer service when a payment needs to be recorded outside the normal flow. Common situations include:

  • A customer paid through a channel that Payway doesn't automatically process (e.g., a direct bank transfer)
  • A payment amount needs to be corrected
  • A subscription needs to be extended as a goodwill gesture

Reconciliation payments come in two variants:

Internal Reconciliation

Used for transfers of value between subscriptions within Payway. The most common scenario is an upgrade or downgrade, where remaining value from the old subscription is transferred to the new one. This produces two reconciliation payments:

  • A negative reconciliation on the old subscription (removing the transferred value)
  • A positive reconciliation on the new subscription (adding the transferred value)

Positive reconciliation (adding funds to new subscription):

Account Debit Credit
DR Internal Clearing (2998) 52.80
CR Deferred Income (2990) 52.80

Negative reconciliation (removing funds from old subscription):

Account Debit Credit
DR Deferred Income (2990) 52.80
CR Internal Clearing (2998) 52.80

The transferred amount is the remaining value of the old subscription at the time of the upgrade — in this example, 52.80 SEK. The same amount is debited and credited on Internal Clearing (2998), so the account nets to zero for each transfer.

External Reconciliation

Used for adjustments involving money or value that originated outside Payway, such as recording a payment that was received directly by the publisher.

Account Debit Credit
DR External Clearing (2999) 99.00
CR Deferred Income (2990) 99.00

The External Clearing account (2999) represents value entering the system from outside. Unlike internal clearing, this account is not expected to net to zero — it reflects real value that came from external sources.

Reseller Payments

A reseller payment is recorded when a subscription is sold through an external reseller (e.g., a third-party sales partner). The reseller collects the money from the customer and settles with the publisher separately, outside Payway.

Account Debit Credit
DR Reseller Clearing (2997) 79.20
CR Deferred Income (2990) 79.20

Key differences from regular payments:

  • No VAT — the reseller handles VAT reporting. All amounts are net.
  • No bank entry — the reseller holds the money. Settlement happens outside Payway.
  • Clearing account — Reseller Clearing (2997) represents money owed by the reseller to the publisher.

Revenue recognition works the same way as for any other subscription — deferred income is converted to revenue daily or per issue, regardless of how the subscription was sold.

Migration Opening Balances

When an organisation migrates to Payway from another subscription system, existing subscriptions with remaining service periods carry deferred income that needs to be recorded.

A migration opening balance establishes this deferred income without an actual payment:

Account Debit Credit
DR External Clearing (2999) 79.20
CR Deferred Income (2990) 79.20
  • The amount is the net value of the remaining service obligation at the time of migration.
  • No VAT — VAT was already handled in the original system.
  • External Clearing (2999) is used because the money was received in the previous system.

Once recorded, revenue recognition proceeds normally — the migrated subscription is treated identically to any other active subscription.

PSP Settlement Reconciliation

When customers pay online (via Adyen, Klarna, etc.), Payway records the full payment amount as a PSP Receivable (1580) — money owed by the payment provider to the publisher. The payment provider later settles these funds to the publisher's bank account, typically in batches, after deducting their processing fees.

This settlement and fee accounting happens outside Payway — the publisher books it in their accounting system based on the payment provider's settlement reports. Keeping PSP receivables on a dedicated account (1580) separate from customer receivables (1510) makes this reconciliation straightforward.

The settlement flow

  1. Payway records the payment — DR PSP Receivable (1580), CR Deferred Income + VAT
  2. The payment provider settles to the bank — the publisher receives the payment amount minus fees
  3. The publisher books the settlement — clearing PSP Receivable and recording the fee

For example, if a customer paid 99.00 SEK and the payment provider charges a 3.94 SEK processing fee, the settlement entry (booked by the publisher, not Payway) would be:

Account Debit Credit
DR Bank (1930) 95.06
DR PSP Fees (6570) 3.94
CR PSP Receivable (1580) 99.00

After this entry, the PSP Receivable for this payment is cleared to zero. The fee is captured as a cost on a dedicated expense account (e.g., 6570).

PSP fee account

The account code for PSP fees (e.g., 6570) is chosen by the publisher in their accounting system. Payway does not manage this account — it only manages the PSP Receivable side.

Using the balance report for reconciliation

Tulo Payments provides a balance report that lists every transaction with the amounts the payment provider owes and the fees deducted. This report is the basis for reconciling PSP Receivable (1580).

Balance report example

The balance report shows for each transaction:

Column Description
transaction_amount Net amount (excl. VAT)
transaction_amount_incl_vat Gross amount charged to the customer
transaction_vat_amount VAT portion
payment_fees Payment provider fee for this transaction
balance_amount Running balance owed by the payment provider

The balance_amount column shows the running total of what the payment provider owes. When a settlement is made to the bank, the balance decreases by the settled amount. The publisher's PSP Receivable (1580) balance should match the balance_amount in this report at any point in time.

Reconciliation checklist

To reconcile PSP settlements:

  1. Compare the PSP Receivable (1580) balance in your accounting system with the balance_amount in the Tulo Payments balance report
  2. For each bank settlement received, book DR Bank / DR PSP Fees / CR PSP Receivable as shown above
  3. Verify that after booking all settlements, the remaining PSP Receivable balance matches the outstanding balance in the report

If there is a discrepancy, check for:

  • Refunds that have been processed but not yet settled
  • Settlements that arrived in the bank but haven't been booked yet
  • Chargebacks or other adjustments from the payment provider

Clearing Account Summary

Account Code Purpose Expected balance over time
Reseller Clearing 2997 Money owed by resellers Fluctuates based on unsettled reseller payments
Internal Clearing 2998 Internal adjustments Should net to zero
External Clearing 2999 External adjustments and migrations Reflects value from external sources