Amazon Settlement Reports: The Disbursements Page and Flat File V2

In brief: the Amazon settlement report later moved to flat file V2, and in August 2020 Amazon launched the Disbursements page under Payments, listing each settlement period's payout with its status, a summary and a download link — plus a Trace ID your bank can use to find a transfer that hasn't arrived. In November 2021 it announced that from 31 March 2022 settlement reports would only be available in flat file V2 format, retiring the older flat file and XML versions.

Settlement report flat file V2: what it gives you

Tool	Use it for
Disbursements page	Seeing every payout, newest first, filtering by period, checking status
Trace ID	Chasing a missing payment with your bank (Amazon suggests waiting five business days)
Settlement report (flat file V2)	The line-by-line detail behind each payout — every order, refund, fee and adjustment

Why flat file V2 matters

The settlement report is the source document for Amazon bookkeeping: it explains exactly how a payout was made up. The V2 layout has one row per amount, with columns for transaction type, amount type and description, order ID, SKU and posting date. Any spreadsheet template or tool built on the old formats needed updating by March 2022; anything built since uses V2.

What it means for your bookkeeping

• One settlement, one payout, one entry. Post each settlement as a single set of entries that adds up to the payout; the Disbursements page confirms the amount and date to match against your bank.

• Use the Trace ID before assuming an error. If a payout hasn't arrived, the Trace ID lets your bank locate it — don't post a duplicate or a write-off in the meantime.

• Keep the reports. Settlement reports support your VAT return and year-end accounts; save a copy of each one, as the detail is hard to rebuild later.

• Only paid money is in the report. Orders still held under Amazon's reserve appear in a later report — see deferred transactions.

• Use it as your source. The settlement report, not the payout, is what you post from — see reconciling an Amazon settlement.

How TrueBooks helps

TrueBooks downloads every flat file V2 settlement report automatically through Amazon's API and posts each one to Xero so the invoice matches the payout on your Disbursements page. See the Amazon Xero integration.