How money flows, from sale to report
Shopee says ₱480, the bank says ₱405.86. Follow one order along the path every peso takes, from the sale to the BIR return, and see where the books come in.
← 2.5 The Seal BadgeSales say ₱480. The bank says ₱405.86.
Carla checks her bank app. Shopee shows a ₱480 order, but only ₱405.86 arrived. Is money missing?
No. Shopee kept its fees and some tax. The books are where you explain every gap like this one, which is why this part of the course is called Record: every peso in and out, written down every day.
Every peso travels the same path
Each sale makes the same trip: sale → invoice → payout → books → ledger → reports and returns.
The first three happen in your shop and on the marketplace. The last three happen in your records. Skip a stop and the numbers at the end won't add up.
Stop 1: the sale
A buyer orders a 1.5 kg bag of dry cat food for ₱480 and pays Shopee. Shopee holds the money until the order is delivered.
Kuting Kitchen has made a sale, but has no cash yet. Shopee owes it the money.
Stop 2: the invoice
Kuting Kitchen issues invoice KK-SI-000412. It splits the price: ₱428.57 sale and ₱51.43 VAT.
The invoice is the document that starts the record. No document, no entry.
Stop 3: the payout
After delivery, Shopee pays ₱405.86. It kept ₱72.00 in fees and withheld ₱2.14 of tax for BIR (0.5% of the sale before VAT).
That's the whole ₱74.14 "gap" from step 1. Nothing is missing, but each piece must be recorded on its own.
Stop 4: the books
Two entries go into the journals: the sale in the sales journal on the day of the invoice, and the payout in the cash receipts journal on the day the money lands, with the fee, its VAT and the tax withheld broken out.
Lesson 3.4 walks through both entries line by line.
Stop 5: the ledger and trial balance
At month-end the journals are posted to the general ledger, one running page per account: Cash, Sales, Output VAT, Input VAT and the rest.
Then a trial balance lists every account. If total debits equal total credits, the books are at least in balance.
Stop 6: reports and returns
The ledger's balances become the financial statements and the numbers on your BIR returns.
For Q3 2026, Kuting Kitchen's books showed ₱144,000 output VAT and ₱93,600 input VAT, so the 2550Q showed ₱50,400 VAT due. The 1702Q used the same books: ₱32,400 tax less ₱6,000 withheld by the marketplaces, ₱26,400 to pay.
The books are the bridge between your shop and your returns.
Pop Quiz: put the path in order
Tap the six stops in the order a peso travels them.
General information for learning, not tax advice. Kuting Kitchen and its numbers are fictional. Marketplace fees and payout timing vary by platform and by seller.
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