> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.opentherapy.app/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Set up payouts

> Connect your Stripe account, understand the account states, and know when money reaches your bank.

Open Therapy pays you through Stripe. You need a connected account before clients can book you.

Set it up under **Payouts** in your workspace.

## You are the merchant of record

Every payment is made on your behalf. Your practice name — not Open Therapy — appears on the client's card statement, the charge runs in your country, and the transaction is yours.

That's why the account has to be fully verified before you can take a booking, and why the verification is Stripe's rather than ours.

## Setting up

<Steps>
  <Step title="Start onboarding">
    Select **Set up payouts with Stripe**. You'll be handed to Stripe.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Provide your details">
    Your legal entity, ABN, identity documents, and the bank account you want to be paid into.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Come back">
    Stripe returns you to Open Therapy. Your status updates once Stripe has processed it, which is
    usually immediate but can take longer if documents need review.
  </Step>
</Steps>

## Account states

| State           | What it means              | What you can do                                                    |
| --------------- | -------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------ |
| **Not started** | No account yet             | Start onboarding                                                   |
| **Pending**     | Stripe is reviewing        | Wait, or supply anything outstanding                               |
| **Restricted**  | Stripe needs more from you | The outstanding requirements are listed on the page — resolve them |
| **Active**      | Fully verified             | Take bookings and receive transfers                                |

<Warning>
  Clients cannot book you until your account is **active**. Someone who tries will be told you haven't
  finished setting up payments yet, and invited to message you instead — so an incomplete account
  costs you bookings quietly.
</Warning>

## Changing your bank details

Select **Change bank details**, which opens your Stripe dashboard. Bank details live with Stripe, not with Open Therapy.

## When you get paid

Two stages, and it helps to keep them separate.

<Steps>
  <Step title="Transfer — 24 hours after the session ends">
    Once you've recorded attendance, your share is transferred to your Stripe balance. The 24-hour
    hold is the post-session equivalent of a cancellation window: the last stretch in which a mistake
    can be put right while the money is still recoverable.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Payout — on Stripe's schedule">
    Stripe pays your balance to your bank on its normal schedule for your country. Most banks show it
    within one to two business days.
  </Step>
</Steps>

Transfers are attempted every hour, so a session recorded this afternoon is queued without you doing anything further.

<Note>
  Nothing transfers until you've recorded attendance. See
  [Managing sessions](/therapists/managing-sessions#recording-attendance).
</Note>

## Why a transfer might not have happened

All of these must be true before your share moves:

* The session has been settled
* Attendance has been recorded, or the session was cancelled
* 24 hours have passed since the session ended
* The real card processing fee is known
* Transfers are enabled on your account and it isn't frozen

A transfer that fails is retried automatically on the next hourly pass, with Stripe's own reason recorded against it. The usual causes are a charge not yet available for transfer, or a frozen account.

## Frozen accounts

A payment dispute freezes transfers on your account until a person clears it. See [Refunds and disputes](/therapists/refunds-and-disputes).

## Payout emails

You get a **Payout sent** email when money goes to your bank, showing the period and the amount.

That figure is your **net earnings**. Platform and introduction fees are invoiced separately rather than being netted invisibly, so your income and your costs stay legible at tax time. See [Invoices and tax](/therapists/invoices-and-tax).

## Problems

Write to [billing@opentherapy.app](mailto:billing@opentherapy.app) with the session date or the payout period. Expect a reply within one business day.