Square Import

Overview

Import transaction data from Square POS CSV exports. Handles sales, tips, refunds, and Square processing fees. Maps Square's item-level detail into Open Accountant's transaction format.

Wilson Tools Used

transaction_search — check for existing Square transactions to prevent duplicates
categorize — assign categories to imported Square transactions
export_transactions — export reconciled Square data

Column Mapping

Square CSV Column	Open Accountant Field	Notes
`Date`	`date`	Transaction date
`Time`	—	Not stored
`Transaction ID`	`reference_id`	Square payment ID for dedup
`Description` or `Item`	`description`	Item or payment description
`Gross Sales`	`amount`	Total before fees (positive = income)
`Tips`	`amount` (separate row)	Tip amount (positive = income)
`Processing Fees`	`amount` (separate row)	Square fee (negative = expense)
`Refunds`	`amount` (separate row)	Refund amount (negative)
`Net Sales`	—	Calculated, not stored directly
`Payment Method`	`notes`	Cash, card, etc.

Workflow

Ask the user for the Square CSV file path.
Parse the CSV and validate Square column headers.
For each transaction row, create up to four entries:
- Sale: gross sales amount (positive), category "Revenue:Sales"
- Tips: tip amount (positive), category "Revenue:Tips" (if > $0)
- Fee: processing fee (negative), category "Fees:Payment Processing" (if > $0)
- Refund: refund amount (negative), category "Revenue:Refunds" (if > $0)
Cash transactions have $0 processing fees — still import the sale.
Deduplicate using Square Transaction ID.
Preview the import summary: total sales, total tips, total fees, total refunds, net.
Insert transactions and confirm.

Without Wilson

To work with Square exports manually:

Downloading from Square

Log in to squareup.com (Square Dashboard)
Go to Transactions (left sidebar)
Click Export (top right, or the download icon)
Select date range
Choose Transactions CSV (not Items CSV — that's inventory)
Download
Alternative: Reporting > Sales > Export for summary-level data

Manual Processing in a Spreadsheet

Open the CSV in Google Sheets or Excel.
Separate revenue streams:
- Column E: Gross Sales (your product/service revenue)
- Column F: Tips (income, not taxed the same as sales in some jurisdictions)
- Column G: Processing Fees (expense)
- Column H: Refunds (negative revenue)
Create separate category rows (or use multiple category columns):
- For each row with a tip > $0, create a new row for the tip amount
- For each row with a fee > $0, create a new row with the negative fee

Summary formulas:

Gross Sales:       =SUM(E:E)
Total Tips:        =SUM(F:F)
Total Fees:        =SUM(G:G)
Total Refunds:     =SUM(H:H)
Net Revenue:       =GrossSales + Tips - Fees - Refunds
Effective Fee %:   =TotalFees / (GrossSales + Tips) * 100
Avg Transaction:   =GrossSales / COUNTA(D:D)

Reconcile with bank: Square deposits funds daily or weekly. Sum Net Sales between deposit dates and match against your bank statement.

Square Reports (No Export Needed)

Square Dashboard has built-in reports at Reporting > Sales Summary that show gross sales, fees, and net by day, week, or month. Use these for quick reference without exporting.

Important Notes

Square CSV exports can be either transaction-level or item-level. This skill expects transaction-level exports. Item-level exports have one row per item per sale, which requires grouping by Transaction ID first.
Tips are separated because they may have different tax treatment than sales revenue.
Cash transactions appear in Square if rung through the POS but have $0 processing fee. These are still imported.
Square deposits to your bank are net of fees. Do not import deposit rows from your bank as Square revenue — use this skill for the gross breakdown instead.
If you use Square for both in-person and online sales, both appear in the same export.

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