POS deposit and final payment: reconcile one order without double sales

Inspect the deposit workflow from the customer order through to the accounting export. Have your practitioner confirm the tax classification and revenue mapping for the actual arrangement.

Identify the order and payment statuses

Record the order total, what the customer has agreed to buy, the deposit terms and the delivery status. Check that a requested deposit was actually paid. A deposit invoice sent by email is not a successful receipt.

Square Invoices supports deposit requests based on a percentage or amount. Its documentation distinguishes payment schedules from the invoice total. Confirm that the feature and export behaviour apply to your plan rather than assuming a till's generic “deposit” button does the same job.

Follow a fictional $1,200 order

Event	Amount received	Order still unpaid	Evidence
Order ORD-1200 accepted	$0	$1,200	Order and agreed terms
Deposit DEP-300 completes	$300	$900	Payment ID and allocation
Final payment FIN-900 completes	$900	$0	Payment ID and allocation
Order fulfilled	$0	$0	Delivery or collection record

Original ASBG worksheet with fictional AUD figures. The table is also the text equivalent of the example.

The payment check is $300 + $900 = $1,200. Fulfilment does not create another $1,200 receipt. This table deliberately does not prescribe the revenue or GST entries; the same cash pattern can arise under different legal terms and accounting methods.

Inspect what the connection has already exported

Find the order or invoice in the accounting system and match both payment references. Check whether a deposit is held on account, allocated to an invoice or represented by a separate document. If you also enter the final full-value invoice manually, establish whether an integration already created it.

Reconcile the provider's net payouts separately using the settlement bridge. A $300 customer payment can produce a smaller bank receipt after fees; the difference does not mean the customer still owes that fee amount.

Get the deposit classification in writing

Give the practitioner the actual terms, including when the amount is applied, whether it is refundable and what happens on cancellation. The label “deposit” does not establish whether it is a security deposit or a part payment for tax purposes. Ask them to confirm the tax attribution period and the documents to issue for the business's method.

Keep that decision alongside the tax-invoice requirements and your export mapping. Use the GST deposit and part-payment guide to prepare the classification questions.

Check cancellations and changed order values

A cancellation, increase in price or refund needs its own authorised event. Update the order balance using the supported workflow and keep the old and new totals in the audit trail. Do not rewrite the original bank entries to match the new order value.

Test a deposit, final payment and cancellation during your POS trial. Ask the provider to demonstrate how all three appear in the accounting export. The payments hub has the related reconciliation tasks.

Key takeaways

• Use one order reference across all payment events.
• Reconcile successful receipts separately from fulfilment.
• Have deposit classification and accounting mapping approved before posting.

Deposit and final payment
Order / invoice reference and total:
Deposit terms and tax classification review:
Deposit payment ID / amount / date:
Remaining amount:
Final payment ID / amount / date:
Fulfilment status / evidence:
POS export / accounting invoice / bank settlements:
Duplicate check and unresolved balances:

Where to get help

• Square: invoices, deposits and payment schedules
• Square: match transfers to sales