We have started using a company to enable us to take payments over the phone. They take 2.5% from the customer payment & then pay us the remaining amount. What would be the best way for me to log this on our accounts as the payment from the customer into our bank will not be the full amount & will therefore still show an outstanding balance.
If you are using computerised accounts I would probably issue a credit note to the customer account for the 2.5% and post it to the 'Commission' (or whatever you want to call it) nominal code.
If this was going to happen for every customer receipt from now on I might try and think of a quicker solution, but this may depend on the bookkeeping system you are using!
If you're using Sage, you could raise a Credit Note of the difference between what was owed to you and the payment for the customer and then select an expense account which you would find appropriate.
For example:
Customer A: Account Balance of £100 - Debit balance
Payment received/allocated: £97.5 - A credit to the customer`s account.
Difference accounted for as: CR Customer A £2.5 (Clears the outstanding balance) DR Telephone payment charge(whatever account name you find appropriate) £2.5
Of course, if you`re having bulk payments over phone, then it`s a different situation, but same principles apply.
If you are using a computerised system, I would create a bank account code for the payment company (create a bank account code for each payment service provider).
I would then clear off sales invoices using this account, in full, and post a bank payment for the monthly fee. Usually, these fees don't carry VAT, and using sales credit notes a) causes issues with your net sales and B) messes up your VAT if you are on cash accounting.
You would then make transfers from this account into the bank account to match the bank statement and you should be able to reconcile the balance to NIL.
