Minimum balances for automatic payouts

Automatic payouts default to paying out your entire available balance according to your set schedule. This can result in insufficient funds to manage your payments business on Stripe, preventing you from processing refunds or disputes.

Minimum balances for automatic payouts let you keep a specified amount in your Stripe account after an automatic payout. Automatic payouts only pay out funds exceeding this minimum balance to your bank account. This helps minimize the risk of a negative balance due to refunds, disputes, or fees after automatic payouts. You can use Minimum Balances to help:

• Improve your cash flow management by keeping a balance to cover refunds, disputes, and fees.
• Receive comprehensive reconciliation reports with automatic payouts, including the minimum balance you’ve set.

Set up minimum balances

Minimum balances work with all automatic payout schedules. If you dip below the set minimum balance, Stripe attempts to renew first by using your available balance. If you have no available balance, we use your incoming funds instead.

To set up a minimum balance:

1. Log in to the Dashboard. Minimum Balances are only available when you have access to the Stripe Dashboard.
2. Navigate to Payout Settings. Under the Minimum Balance section, toggle the option on, and set a fixed amount.
3. Specify the amount you want to keep as a minimum balance. This amount remains in your account to cover potential refunds, disputes, and fees.
4. Save your settings. Your automatic payouts will now retain the specified minimum balance.

Manage minimum balances

You can update the minimum balance as needed:

1. Navigate to Payout Settings.
2. Under the Minimum Balance section, change the amount. If you choose a lower amount to keep as a minimum balance, we include the released funds on your next scheduled payout. If you choose a higher minimum balance, we accumulate from new incoming payments. Regularly check your balance to verify it aligns with your business needs.

You can also disable your Minimum Balance in the Dashboard:

1. Navigate to Payout Settings.
2. Under the Minimum Balance section, set the amount to 0 or toggle the option off. When you turn off minimum balances, Stripe no longer retains the specified minimum balance during automatic payouts. Your entire available balance will be disbursed according to your payout schedule.

Negative balances

With a Minimum Balance in place, the likelihood of a negative balance is significantly reduced. However, if you process refund amounts greater than your minimum balance amount at any given time, your balance becomes negative. To learn more about handling negative balances, see Fix a negative balance.

Reconciliation reports

When you enable Minimum Balance, your Payout Reconciliation Report displays the amount retained due to the minimum balance. This helps you see how the minimum balance affects your payouts and transactions. The timing of your reconciliation reports remains unchanged. The reports shows the total payout and the amount retained based on the minimum balance.

The following sections illustrate how Stripe pays out and reconciles an account with a set minimum balance using USD as example currency, workings for other currencies will be the same:

• Total Balance: 30,000 USD
• Minimum Balance: 10,000 USD
• Payout Amount: 20,000 USD (30,000 USD Total Balance - 10,000 USD Minimum Balance)

Stripe initiates an automatic payout of 20,000 USD to your linked bank account. The minimum balance of 10,000 USD remains in your Stripe account. You can see the Balance Transaction API for more details on the hold made for the minimum balance.

Your reconciliation report shows the following details:

• All transactions leading up to the total balance of 30,000 USD
• A transaction for the retained amount of -10,000 USD (your selected Minimum Balance)
• Results in a total payout amount of 20,000 USD

Minimum balances for Platforms Private preview

As a platform, you can follow the same steps to set your minimum balance in the Dashboard. Set a platform minimum balance that covers negative balances and refunds for your connected accounts.