Stripe to QuickBooks in Canada: Convert USD or Keep It?

A Toronto software company bills its American customers in US dollars and its Canadian customers in Canadian dollars. Every month, about two thirds of its Stripe revenue arrives in USD. Its QuickBooks file is in CAD, because the company files with the CRA in CAD. Nobody ever decided what should happen to the US dollars in between. Stripe made that decision for them, and it costs 2% of every USD sale.

Getting Stripe to QuickBooks right in Canada comes down to one setting most owners never look at: whether your Stripe account has a USD bank account on file. Without one, Stripe converts every USD charge into Canadian dollars and your books stay single-currency. With one, Stripe keeps the US dollars and pays them out as US dollars, and QuickBooks needs Multicurrency to hold them. Both paths are legitimate. They cost different things, and the QuickBooks half of the decision cannot be undone.

This guide works through the choice with real numbers, then shows what each path asks of your QuickBooks file.

Start a free trial to see how each Stripe balance would land in your QuickBooks accounts.

Can a Canadian Stripe account keep US dollars?

Yes. A Stripe account based in Canada can settle US dollars and pay them out to a USD bank account in Canada or in the United States, with no settlement fee. Stripe's payouts documentation lists it in the table of currencies it supports "without a settlement fee": for Canada, CAD pays out to Canadian banks, and USD pays out to US or Canadian banks.

Don't confuse this with Stripe's multi-currency settlement product. That one charges a fee "when funds settle into a non-primary settlement currency," and Canada is not on its list of locations. The free USD route for Canadian accounts is the one in the payouts table.

The switch is a bank account, not a toggle. Stripe's rule is one bank account per settlement currency: "Charges that are presented in any enabled settlement currency settle without currency conversion. Payments presented in a currency that you haven't configured an additional bank account for automatically convert to your default currency."

So a Canadian account with only a CAD bank account converts every USD charge to CAD. Add a USD bank account, and USD charges stop converting. Euro or pound charges still convert to your default currency either way, because you have no bank account for them.

What converting USD to CAD costs on Stripe in Canada

Stripe's Canadian pricing for online cards is "2.9% + CA$0.30 per successful transaction for domestic cards," with three surcharges on top:

• "+ 0.5% for manually entered cards"
• "+ 0.8% for international cards"
• "+ 2% if currency conversion is required"

The first two depend on the card. The third depends only on where the money settles, and that is the one the bank-account decision controls.

Here is the Toronto company's October:

	Path A: convert to CAD	Path B: keep USD
USD charges presented	US$48,000	US$48,000
Conversion surcharge (2%)	US$960	US$0
In CAD at an illustrative 1.37	about C$1,315	C$0
Same surcharge over 12 months	US$11,520, about C$15,782	C$0

The exchange rate here is illustrative, not a quote. The point is the size: on this volume, conversion costs roughly the price of a part-time bookkeeper every year.

Two details make Path A more expensive than the headline. Stripe's pricing page says that on a refund, "the payment processing, Connect and currency conversion fees from the original transaction are not returned." And a refund on a converted charge goes out at a different rate than the sale came in, which our guide to refunding a foreign-currency Stripe charge in QuickBooks works through.

Path B is not free either. Keeping US dollars only saves money if you spend them as US dollars or convert them more cheaply than 2%. If your US dollar account just converts to CAD every week, check your bank's exchange spread before you assume Path B wins. Stripe also offers instant currency conversion inside a multi-currency balance, priced on the same Canadian page at "starting at 0.5% of the converted amount". Our Stripe currency conversion walkthrough covers how to book one.

Path A: let Stripe convert, and keep QuickBooks in CAD

If Stripe converts everything, your QuickBooks file never sees a US dollar. There is one Stripe balance in CAD, one clearing account in CAD and one bank account in CAD. Every USD sale reaches your books at the Canadian dollar amount Stripe credited to your balance.

What this path gets right:

1. Your file stays single-currency. QuickBooks Online EasyStart works, because nothing needs Multicurrency.
2. Payouts reconcile in one currency. The clearing account can reach zero after every payout without a revaluation step.
3. Your tax figures are already in CAD. The CRA's income tax reporting currency folio states the rule at ¶1.8: "Subsection 261(2) requires that taxpayers determine their Canadian tax results in Canadian currency." Path A gets there by construction.

What it gives up is the 2%, and any USD cash. If you pay US contractors, US software subscriptions or US ad platforms from a Canadian dollar account, your bank converts the money back to USD on the way out. You pay the spread twice.

Each converted sale is booked at the Canadian dollar amount Stripe credited, which reflects Stripe's rate for that charge, not your bank's quote and not the Bank of Canada's. Our Stripe multicurrency explainer covers why those rates never agree.

Path B: hold US dollars and turn on QuickBooks Multicurrency

Once Stripe pays out US dollars, your QuickBooks file needs somewhere to hold them in US dollars. A single-currency file cannot. Our guide to a foreign Stripe balance on QuickBooks without Multicurrency shows what goes wrong when the Stripe side changes before the QuickBooks side does.

Set up QuickBooks first, in this order.

1. Check your plan, then turn on Multicurrency. Intuit's Canadian Multicurrency article lists Essentials, Plus and Advanced, and says "Multicurrency is not available for QuickBooks Online EasyStart users." The setting is under Settings, then Account and settings, then Advanced, in the Currency section.

2. Confirm CAD as your home currency before you save. Intuit states two locks: "Once Multicurrency is on, you can't turn it off again," and "Once multicurrency is enabled, you can no longer change your home currency." For a Canadian business, CAD is almost always the right answer, for the CRA reason above. A small number of corporations elect a functional currency under section 261 by filing Form T1296. If that is you, settle the question with your accountant before you touch this setting. Our QuickBooks home currency glossary entry covers why the choice is permanent.

3. Create USD accounts. Do not convert old ones. Intuit says "Once an account has a transaction posted to it, you can no longer change the account's currency." You need a USD clearing account for the Stripe USD balance and a USD bank account that matches the real US dollar account Stripe pays into. Your existing CAD accounts stay as they are and keep handling CAD.

4. Expect two records for cross-border customers. QuickBooks gives each customer one currency. For a customer who already has transactions in CAD, Intuit's fix is to "create a new customer or supplier and assign the new type of currency." Our QuickBooks customer display name entry explains why that second record needs a different name.

5. Revalue the USD accounts at month-end. Your profit and loss stays in Canadian dollars, because, in Intuit's words, "Income and expense accounts always use your home currency." The USD bank and clearing balances do not. A home currency adjustment restates them at a current rate. Intuit's Canadian home currency adjustment article says the adjustment shows on bank accounts "as a realized foreign exchange gain or loss."

Back to the Toronto company. At the end of October it holds US$30,000 in its USD bank account. QuickBooks carries that balance at C$40,950, the rates of the days the money arrived, averaging 1.3650. The month-end rate is 1.3720, so the balance is worth C$41,160. The home currency adjustment books the C$210 difference as a realized foreign exchange gain. Skip that step, and the balance sheet overstates or understates cash every month the rate moves.

Which path fits a Canadian business

If this describes you	Choose
You regularly pay US suppliers, contractors or software in USD	Path B
USD is a large and growing share of your Stripe revenue	Path B
USD sales are occasional, and you want a single-currency file	Path A
You are on QuickBooks Online EasyStart and plan to stay there	Path A
You might sell the business or change accountants soon, and want the simplest file	Path A

A quick test: multiply your monthly USD charges by 2%. At US$5,000 a month, the conversion surcharge is US$100. That may not justify a plan upgrade and a monthly revaluation step. At US$48,000 a month, it is US$960, and Path B pays for its extra work many times over.

Whichever you choose, choose it deliberately. The file that causes problems is the one where someone added a USD bank account in Stripe "to save on fees" and never told the person who keeps the books.

Mistakes that break the books on either path

Adding the USD bank account in Stripe before QuickBooks is ready. From that day, USD charges stop converting and a USD balance starts building. If QuickBooks is still single-currency, those dollars have nowhere honest to go. Do the five Path B steps first, then add the bank account in Stripe.

Recording USD payouts in a CAD bank account. A US$10,000 payout entered as C$10,000 understates cash by thousands of dollars and leaves the clearing account permanently out of balance.

Assuming every foreign currency now stays foreign. Path B covers USD only. A euro charge on a Canadian account with CAD and USD bank accounts still converts to your default currency.

Treating GST/HST as part of this decision. It isn't. GST/HST on Stripe's own fees is a separate question, covered in our guide to VAT and GST on Stripe fees in QuickBooks Online.

Using a rate nobody can explain. The folio's reference point is the rate quoted by the Bank of Canada on the day (¶1.4), and the CRA "will generally accept" another source if the folio's conditions are met (¶1.6). It may accept a period average, but generally not where rates fluctuate significantly (¶1.6.1). Pick a rate policy, write it down and ask your accountant to confirm it.

Where Acodei fits

Acodei handles both paths, and the setup differs.

Path A is a single CAD balance. You map one holding account and one deposit account, and none of the multicurrency settings below apply.

Path B uses Acodei's multicurrency support, and our product documentation is specific about what it needs:

• QuickBooks Multicurrency first. QuickBooks Online must have Multicurrency turned on to sync any transaction that is not in your home currency. If Acodei's Multicurrency Support is on and QuickBooks' own setting is off, syncs will error.
• Enabled by our team. Multicurrency Support, and Invoice Multicurrency if you invoice in USD, are switched on by the Acodei team on request. They are not self-serve toggles.
• A holding account and a deposit account for each balance. Our recommended setup for a Stripe account with more than one balance is a separate holding account and deposit account per balance: the USD clearing account and USD bank account from step 3. Holding accounts must not be Undeposited Funds.
• "Acme - USD", by design. When a Stripe transaction's currency does not match the QuickBooks customer's currency, Acodei creates a second customer in the format "CustomerName - CUR". QuickBooks requires one currency per customer, so this is expected, not a duplicate to clean up.
• Where the exchange rate comes from. Acodei uses Stripe's rate at payment time when Stripe provides one, and otherwise QuickBooks' daily rate.
• Payouts as transfers. With Invoice Multicurrency on, a payout in a currency other than your home currency is recorded as a Transfer with the exchange rate attached.

Plan on running the month-end home currency adjustment in QuickBooks as part of your close.

Frequently asked questions

Can a Canadian Stripe account be paid out in US dollars?

Yes. Stripe's payouts documentation lists USD as a currency a Canadian account can settle without a settlement fee, payable to a US or Canadian bank account. You add a USD bank account in Stripe. From then on, charges presented in USD settle and pay out in USD instead of converting to CAD.

How much does Stripe charge to convert USD to CAD in Canada?

Stripe's Canadian pricing adds 2% "if currency conversion is required" on top of the standard card rate. A USD charge on an account with no USD bank account converts to CAD and pays the 2%. On a refund, Stripe says the original currency conversion fee is not returned.

Do I need QuickBooks Multicurrency if Stripe converts my USD sales to CAD?

No. If Stripe converts every USD charge before it reaches your balance, your Stripe account holds only Canadian dollars, and a single-currency CAD file can record everything. You need Multicurrency once Stripe starts paying out US dollars to a USD bank account.

Can I change my QuickBooks home currency from CAD to USD later?

Not once Multicurrency is on. Intuit says "Once multicurrency is enabled, you can no longer change your home currency." For most Canadian businesses CAD is correct anyway, because the CRA requires Canadian tax results in Canadian dollars unless a corporation has made a functional currency election.

Which exchange rate should a Canadian business use for USD Stripe sales?

The CRA's folio points to the rate quoted by the Bank of Canada on the day, and the CRA will generally accept another source if the conditions in Folio S5-F4-C1 ¶1.6 are met. Average rates may be accepted, but not when rates fluctuate significantly. Choose one written policy and have your accountant confirm it.

Decide once, then let the books follow

The decision is small: one bank account in Stripe, one setting in QuickBooks. It is permanent on the QuickBooks side and worth about 2% of your USD revenue on the Stripe side. Run the numbers on your own volume, set up QuickBooks before Stripe, and keep the Stripe clearing account for each currency reaching zero after every payout.

Start a free trial and connect each Stripe balance to its own QuickBooks accounts.