Sharing a Paystack payment through a subaccount
How Paystack split payments share a Nigerian business's collection with a partner through a subaccount, who bears the fees, and how to book it.
By Achekam · · 4 min read · For Running a business businesses in Nigeria
Some sales belong to more than one business. A venue takes bookings and passes part of each fee to the caterer. A training company collects course fees and shares them with a guest facilitator. A marketplace collects for its vendors and keeps a commission. In each case, one customer payment has to end up in two bank accounts.
Paystack's split payments do this through subaccounts, so the partner's share goes to them directly instead of passing through your account first. That is convenient, but it changes what your payouts look like and what your books need to show. This article explains how splits work as Paystack documents them, who bears the fees, and how a Nigerian business should record its share.
Subaccounts, and checking the bank details
Paystack's documentation describes split payments as sharing your settlement for a transaction with another account through a subaccount, which you create on the Dashboard or through the API.
The same page carries a warning that deserves to be read twice: you should verify that a subaccount's bank account details match what you intended, because Paystack won't be liable for payouts to the wrong bank account. If you key in your partner's account number with one digit wrong, their share goes somewhere else, and recovering it is your problem.
Paystack also says the first payout to a new or updated subaccount is delayed indefinitely until you verify the subaccount on your Dashboard, after which the payout is made the next day. Treat that as a safety step, not a nuisance. Before verifying, ask your partner to confirm the account name and number in writing, and have a second person in your business compare them with what was entered.
Percentage splits, by default
According to Paystack's documentation, split payments are by percentage by default. Its example: for a subaccount created with a percentage_charge of 20, 20% goes to the main account, which is yours, and the rest goes to the subaccount.
Read that carefully, because it is easy to get backwards. The percentage you set is the main account's share, not the partner's. A business that means to give its partner a fifth and keep the rest has to set the figure the other way round.
Taking a flat fee instead
Paystack's documentation says you can override the percentage split and take a flat fee into your main account by passing transaction_charge when initialising a transaction.
A flat fee suits arrangements like a booking charge or a fixed commission per order, where your share does not grow with the size of the payment. Because it is set on each transaction, whoever builds your checkout needs to know which arrangement applies to which sale.
Who bears Paystack's charges
Paystack's documentation says its charges on a split payment are borne by the main account by default. Passing bearer set to "subaccount" when initialising the transaction makes the subaccount bear them instead. If the subaccount's share is not enough to bear the transaction fee, the API returns an error.
This is a commercial decision as much as a technical one. If your agreement with a partner says they receive a share "net of fees", the transactions have to be set up so that the subaccount bears them. If nobody thinks about it, your business pays every fee by default, including on the partner's share.
Paystack sets out subaccounts, percentage and flat-fee splits, and the fee bearer on its split payments documentation page.
Recording your share in Achekam
Splits are set up in Paystack, on each transaction when it is initialised. Nothing in this article says Achekam's invoice pay links create split transactions, so do not assume an invoice paid through Achekam's link will be shared with a subaccount. Agree with whoever runs your Paystack set-up which payments are split and how.
Where a split payment is recorded against an invoice in Achekam, the starting point is the receipt. A verified gateway payment is recorded as a receipt against the invoice, debiting that gateway's clearing account and crediting trade receivables, and the invoice shows as paid or part-paid. Payouts from each gateway are then recorded against the clearing account with their fees, by hand or from Paystack's own payout list.
With a split, the payout you receive carries only your share. The clearing account, which was debited with the customer's full payment, is left holding the partner's share after your payout is recorded. That balance needs its own entry, made the way your accountant advises, depending on whether the partner's share is a cost of your sale or money you collected on their behalf. Either way, the clearing account should end up holding only payments that have not yet been paid out.
An example, in words
A training company invoices a delegate for a course and the delegate pays through a split payment set up in Paystack. The receipt is recorded against the invoice for the full amount. Paystack pays the facilitator's share to their subaccount and the company's share to the company. When the company's payout is recorded with its fees, the facilitator's share is still sitting in the clearing account, and the bookkeeper clears it to the account the accountant has chosen for facilitator fees.
A partner agreement to keep with the set-up
The Paystack settings carry out an agreement; they are not the agreement. Keep a signed document with each partner that states:
- the split, written the way Paystack applies it, as your main account's percentage or flat fee;
- who bears Paystack's charges;
- the partner's bank details, confirmed in writing, and the date the subaccount was verified;
- what happens to the partner's share on a refund or chargeback;
- how either side can end the arrangement.
How payouts reach your own account, and the limits on Starter accounts, are covered in Paystack payouts: which bank account and limits. Fees and payout timing across gateways are compared in gateway payouts and fees.
General guidance only, not advice on your own circumstances. Tax and payroll rules change: check the current position with the authority or your adviser.
