If you've compared your TikTok Shop monthly statement to the figures shown in Link My Books and found they don't match — don't worry. This is expected behaviour and doesn't mean anything is missing or wrong.
This article explains the three reasons for the difference and how to verify that your data is correct.
Reason 1: The biggest factor — TikTok and LMB date orders differently
This is the single biggest reason the numbers don't align month-to-month.
TikTok Shop groups orders by settlement date — when TikTok paid out the money.
Link My Books groups orders by order creation date — when the customer placed the order.
TikTok settlements can take several days (sometimes weeks) after an order is placed. This means:
Orders created in September but settled in October → TikTok includes them in the October statement, but LMB already booked them in September. These appear in TikTok's report but not in LMB's October figures.
Orders created in late October but not yet settled → LMB books them in October, but TikTok won't include them until they settle in November. These appear in LMB but not in TikTok's October statement.
Example: How one order appears in different months
Imagine a customer places an order on 28 September. TikTok settles the payment on 5 October.
Link My Books records this order in September (the month the order was created)
TikTok's October statement includes this order (because it was settled in October)
Now multiply this by hundreds or thousands of orders, and you can see how the monthly totals diverge — sometimes by £10k–50k+ for busy shops.
The image above shows the timeline of how one order appears in different months depending on whether you use settlement date (TikTok) or order creation date (LMB).
Key point: The order-level data is the same in both systems. It's just assigned to different calendar months. If you compared a full quarter or year instead of a single month, the totals would converge much more closely.
Reason 2: TikTok "Net Sales" and LMB "Sales" include different line items
Even for the same set of orders, the headline figures measure different things:
TikTok "Net Sales"
This figure bundles together:
Gross product sales
Seller discounts
Customer-paid shipping fees
Platform shipping subsidies
Shipping fee refunds
LMB "Sales — all channels" (Analytics overview)
This figure includes only:
Gross product sales
Seller discounts
Shipping, fees, commissions, and refunds are deliberately separated in Link My Books so they post to the correct accounts in your bookkeeping software (Xero / QuickBooks). This gives you a clean P&L rather than one combined number.
This means TikTok's "Net Sales" figure will always be higher than LMB's "Sales" figure — because TikTok includes shipping income that LMB separates out.
The image above shows a side-by-side comparison showing what TikTok "Net Sales", LMB "Sales", and LMB "VAT Audit" each include. Yellow items highlight what TikTok includes that LMB separates out.
What about the figure on the VAT Audit tab?
If you see a third figure on the VAT Audit tab in LMB's Financial Analytics, this is the revenue figure including VAT. It will sit between the LMB "Sales" figure (net of VAT) and TikTok's "Net Sales" (which includes shipping).
Reason 3: Different settlement payout timings from TikTok
TikTok Shop settlements can occasionally take longer than expected. In some cases, settlements may include orders from much earlier periods — even months earlier — if there were delays, disputes, or holds on TikTok's side.
TikTok settlements typically take up to 15 days to pay out, but delays beyond this can occur. If a settlement is paid out late, it will appear in a later month's TikTok statement but LMB will have already recorded those orders in the month they were created.
How to verify your data is correct
If you want to confirm that Link My Books is capturing your TikTok data accurately, here's how:
Step 1: Check the full P&L, not just "Sales"
Go to Financial Analytics → P&L in Link My Books. The full breakdown shows:
Revenue — Product sales net of seller discounts
Shipping income — Customer-paid shipping and platform subsidies
Expenses — Commission, affiliate fees, shipping service fees, co-funded promotions
Refunds & adjustments — Customer refunds, chargebacks, warehouse fees
The above image shows the four P&L categories in LMB (Revenue, Shipping, Expenses, Refunds) that together give you the full picture matching TikTok's settlement total.
When you add Revenue + Shipping income − Expenses − Refunds, you get a figure much closer to TikTok's "Total Settlement Amount" for matched orders.
Step 2: Check all settlements are posted
Go to the Settlements dashboard in Link My Books and filter to your TikTok Shop channel. Check that all settlements show a "Posted" status. If any show "Ready to Send" or "Processing", they haven't been sent to your bookkeeping software yet.
Step 3: Compare at settlement level, not monthly level
Because of the timing difference explained above, individual settlements are the best unit to compare — not monthly totals. Each settlement in Link My Books maps to a specific TikTok payout, and those should agree closely.
To download a TikTok settlement report for comparison, see our guide:
Quick summary
Factor | Impact | Is this a problem? |
Timing difference (settlement date vs order date) | Can be £10k–50k+ per month for busy shops | No — the same orders are in both systems, just in different months |
Different line items (TikTok includes shipping in "Net Sales") | TikTok figure is always higher than LMB "Sales" | No — LMB separates items for accurate bookkeeping |
VAT (LMB Sales is net of VAT) | VAT Audit tab shows the VAT-inclusive figure | No — different tabs show different views |
Delayed settlements | Occasional late payouts from TikTok | Rare — LMB captures them when TikTok releases the data |
Other things that can cause differences
Top-Up Ads Balance Using GMV Payments
If you use TikTok's feature to fund your Ads account using your seller balance, this can cause settlements to go missing entirely. See our dedicated article:
TikTok Analytics "Est. Net Revenue"
The "Est. Net Revenue" figure in TikTok Analytics is yet another metric that uses its own calculation. It often doesn't match TikTok's own monthly statement "Net Sales" figure either. TikTok themselves advise to refer to the Finance Module for accurate figures.
Payout data discrepancies
Occasionally TikTok's payout data doesn't match what was actually paid. Link My Books will flag these automatically. See:
Need help reconciling?
If you've checked all of the above and still can't reconcile your figures, our support team can help. Please send us:
The month you're trying to reconcile
The TikTok monthly income report (downloaded from TikTok Shop Seller Center → Finance → Statements → Export)
The Link My Books Audit file for the same month (from your settlements dashboard)
The specific figures you're comparing
If you have any questions about this article or feedback on how we could make it better please reach out to the support team via the blue chat icon on the bottom right of the page or via email to [email protected].