Multi-Currency Clearing Accounts gives each currency you take through PayPal (or any other Shopify or WooCommerce payment gateway) its own clearing account in Xero or QuickBooks, instead of mixing every currency into one. Each currency's settlements then post to their own account, which matches how PayPal reports and pays out, so your clearing accounts reconcile and clear to zero.
It is a paid add-on at £15 per month, switched on by the account owner from Settlement Settings. If you only take payments in one currency you do not need it.
In this article
Why one clearing account per gateway stops working with several currencies
What the add-on does
Before you enable it
How to enable it
What happens once it is on
Reconciling your currency clearing accounts
Frequently asked questions
Why one clearing account per gateway stops working with several currencies
By default, Link My Books creates one clearing account for each payment gateway you use, for example Shopify Gateway Clearing (PayPal). Every PayPal settlement, in every currency, is posted to that one account, and you clear it by allocating your PayPal withdrawals against it. For a single-currency store this works well. If you are new to gateway clearing accounts, read How to reconcile Shopify sales paid via PayPal first.
The problem starts when PayPal takes payments for you in more than one currency. PayPal holds a separate balance for each currency, reports each one separately, and pays each one out separately. Your accounting software is the same: a Xero or QuickBooks PayPal bank feed is per currency. But on the Link My Books side, GBP, EUR and USD settlements were all landing in a single clearing account.
That causes three familiar symptoms:
The PayPal clearing account balance keeps building and never clears to zero, because receipts in one currency are being matched against settlements that include other currencies at converted values.
Exchange differences appear inside the clearing account, where they are hard to see and explain.
You cannot reconcile against your per-currency PayPal feeds, because there is nothing on the Link My Books side that lines up with them.
Until now the workaround was to create extra asset accounts in Xero or QuickBooks by hand and recode the clearing-account journals each month. Multi-Currency Clearing Accounts does this for you automatically, with no manual recoding.
What the add-on does
With Multi-Currency Clearing Accounts switched on, Link My Books creates a separate clearing account for every combination of payment gateway and currency you select, and posts each settlement to the account for its currency.
The accounts are created for you in Xero or QuickBooks, using your existing clearing-account name with the currency added. For a store taking PayPal payments in GBP, EUR and USD:
Before | After |
Shopify Gateway Clearing (PayPal) | Shopify Gateway Clearing (PayPal) - GBP |
| Shopify Gateway Clearing (PayPal) - EUR |
| Shopify Gateway Clearing (PayPal) - USD |
Each new account gets its own account code, following on from your existing clearing account codes (for example LMB39-B).
Settlements are already generated per currency in Link My Books. What changes is where the clearing line on each settlement is posted: a EUR PayPal settlement now goes to the EUR clearing account, a USD one to the USD clearing account, and so on. Your sales, refunds and fees are mapped exactly as before.
Although it is most often used for PayPal, the add-on applies to every payment gateway on the connection. If you take Stripe or Klarna payments in several currencies too, they get their own per-currency clearing accounts at the same time.
Supported channels: Shopify and WooCommerce, connected to Xero or QuickBooks Online.
Before you enable it
Check these four things first. They are the reasons the toggle may not appear, or the currency grid may be empty.
You are the account owner on a paid plan. Only the account owner can switch an add-on on, and the account needs an active paid subscription. Team members and accountant users will not see the option.
The PayPal gateway is toggled on. Go to Settings > Settlement Settings > Shopify Payment Gateways (or WooCommerce Payment Gateways) and make sure PayPal, and any other gateway you want split by currency, is switched on. See PayPal payment gateway not showing or reconciling? Check it's toggled on.
Multi-currency is enabled in Xero or QuickBooks, with each currency added. The currency grid in Link My Books is built from the currencies in your accounting software, so a currency that is not there cannot be selected. If you see a "Currency Not Subscribed" or "Currency Not Available" error, follow Currency configuration error on Link My Books.
Do not create the clearing accounts yourself. Link My Books creates and maps them when you save. Accounts created by hand in Xero or QuickBooks will not be picked up, and you will end up with duplicates.
Cost: Multi-Currency Clearing Accounts is £15 per month per account, added to your existing subscription and billed through Stripe. You will see the charge confirmed on screen before it is applied.
How to enable it
The whole process takes about two minutes.
Log in to Link My Books and open the Shopify or WooCommerce account you want to change.
Go to Settings > Settlement Settings.
Click the Clearing Accounts tab.
Switch on Enable Multi-Currency Clearing Accounts.
Confirm the £15 per month add-on charge when prompted.
A grid of currencies appears, listing every currency set up in your Xero or QuickBooks organisation. Tick each currency you want a separate clearing account for. You only need to select the currencies you actually receive through your gateways.
Click Save Settings.
That is it. Link My Books now creates the new clearing accounts in your accounting software and updates your settlements, as described in the next section.
If you have more than one Shopify or WooCommerce connection, repeat these steps on each one. Settlement settings are per connection.
What happens once it is on
As soon as you save, three things happen:
New clearing accounts are created. For every active gateway on the connection and every currency you ticked, Link My Books creates a clearing account in Xero or QuickBooks and maps it. They appear in your chart of accounts within a few minutes.
Settlements you have not yet sent are regenerated. Any settlement still in Link My Books, whether it is Ready to Post or waiting for review, is refreshed the next time you open it, with its clearing line pointing at the currency-specific account.
Settlements already sent are left exactly as they are. Nothing that has already been posted to Xero or QuickBooks is changed, so there is no risk of altering a closed period.
What about the balance already in the old clearing account?
The original single clearing account, for example Shopify Gateway Clearing (PayPal), stays in your chart of accounts. Every settlement sent before you enabled the add-on is still posted there, so clear it in the normal way by allocating the matching PayPal withdrawals against it. Once those are reconciled the balance should be zero, and the account will not receive new postings.
If you want the new per-currency accounts to apply to earlier periods as well, you can roll back and resend those settlements. Only do this for periods that are still open in your accounts, and check with your accountant first.
If you had previously set up your own manual per-currency accounts as a workaround, you can ask your accountant to move any remaining balances into the Link My Books accounts with a journal, then archive the manual ones.
Reconciling your currency clearing accounts
The routine is the same as for a single clearing account, repeated once per currency. The difference is that everything now lines up: a EUR PayPal balance in Xero or QuickBooks reconciles against the EUR clearing account, with no conversion in between.
Each month, for each currency:
Check the settlement matches PayPal. Download your PayPal activity report for the month, filtered to that currency, and confirm the Link My Books settlement total agrees with it.
Allocate PayPal order payments to that currency's clearing account. In your PayPal bank feed for the currency, allocate customer payments to Shopify Gateway Clearing (PayPal) - EUR (or GBP, USD and so on).
Allocate PayPal fees to your fees account. Post the fee lines to your PayPal fees or bank fees expense account, as you do today.
Record withdrawals to your bank as transfers. When PayPal pays a currency balance out to your bank account, allocate it as a transfer between the PayPal feed and your bank account.
At the end of the month, each currency clearing account should be at or close to zero. A balance left over is normally a timing difference, an order paid at the end of one month and settled in the next, and it will clear the following month.
Set up one PayPal feed per currency. In Xero, add your PayPal account once for each currency balance you hold, choosing the matching currency when you set it up. In QuickBooks Online, connect PayPal and add each currency balance as a separate account. If you have not done this yet, it is the single biggest time-saver, because it lets you use bank rules.
Use bank rules to do most of the work. Once each feed is in place, a rule per currency that sends PayPal payments to that currency's clearing account turns reconciliation into a one-click job. Our existing guides show the pattern; create the same rules once for each currency account:
For a full walk-through of the clearing-account method, including what to do when PayPal and Link My Books do not agree, see How to reconcile Shopify sales paid via PayPal.
Frequently asked questions
Do I need this if I only take PayPal payments in one currency?
No. A single clearing account per gateway already reconciles cleanly when everything is in one currency. The add-on is for stores that receive PayPal, Stripe or other gateway payments in two or more currencies.
Does it work for gateways other than PayPal?
Yes. It applies to every payment gateway that is toggled on for the connection, so Stripe, Klarna, Clearpay and any other gateway receiving more than one currency get their own per-currency clearing accounts too. PayPal is simply the most common case.
Does it work with Shopify Payments?
Shopify Payments pays out in each currency separately and is reconciled payout by payout, so it does not use a gateway clearing account in the same way. The add-on is aimed at third-party gateways such as PayPal.
Can I choose my own account names or use accounts I already have?
The accounts are created and named automatically so they are mapped correctly the first time. If you have moved from another integration and already have per-currency clearing accounts you want to keep using, contact support before enabling the add-on and we will map them for you. The standard custom gateway clearing account mapping covers one account per gateway, not per currency.
What if a currency is missing from the grid?
The grid only shows currencies that exist in your Xero or QuickBooks organisation. Add the currency there first (multi-currency must be enabled), then reopen the Clearing Accounts tab. See Currency configuration error on Link My Books.
I started taking payments in a new currency after enabling it. What do I do?
Add the currency to Xero or QuickBooks, go back to Settings > Settlement Settings > Clearing Accounts, tick the new currency and save. Link My Books creates the extra clearing account and refreshes any unsent settlements in that currency.
Can I switch it off again?
Yes. Turn the toggle off on the same tab and save. Settlements that have already been posted to your accounting software are never changed, so your history stays intact. The add-on charge stops from the next billing date.
How is it billed?
£15 per month per Link My Books account, added to your existing Stripe subscription. It appears as a separate line on your invoice. Enabling it on more than one connection within the same account does not cost extra.
Need help?
If the toggle is not showing, the currency grid is empty, or a clearing account is not clearing after you have followed the steps above, send us a message from the in-app chat or email [email protected]. Tell us which connection, which gateway and which currency, and we can check the mapping and enable the add-on for you if needed.
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