Transaction Date

What transaction date is

The transaction date is the date a purchase or payment occurs. For a card sale, it is the date tied to the customer's purchase, not necessarily the date the funds reach your bank account. A payment record can also include separate dates for authorization, submission, posting, and settlement.

The date is a record of the transaction, not a separate payment or fee. American Express lists the transaction date as required information on a Charge Record, alongside the amount and approval. Keeping that date with your sales records helps you match a charge to the sale that created it.

The transaction date marks the sale, while submission and settlement determine when payment moves through the system.

How it differs from other payment dates

Transaction describes the payment activity, such as a customer buying goods from your business. Transaction date identifies when that activity took place. The same transaction can have a later posting or settlement date because processing and transfer of funds happen after the purchase.

For example, a customer pays by card on Friday, and the sale appears in your bank records after the weekend. The transaction date remains Friday even though the record or funds arrive later. Comparing the dates helps you spot timing differences during reconciliation without treating them as additional sales.

Why the date matters for your records

The transaction date helps connect a card charge to a receipt, invoice, or customer order. If a customer questions a charge, a dated record supports your review of when the sale occurred. It also helps you compare sales reports with deposits, which can reflect later processing dates.

The date itself does not determine a card-processing fee. Submission timing is a separate operational issue: American Express's 2018 US merchant rules stated that approved charges had to be submitted within seven days, and that an approval was valid for seven days, subject to limited exceptions. Daily submission was encouraged because payment could not occur until submission.

Those 2018 rules also described an Authorization Integrity Fee when approved charges that were not submitted, reversed, or were submitted late exceeded 10% of approved charges for three consecutive months. Beginning in the third month, the stated fee was 0.10% of approved authorization volume plus $0.05 per affected approved charge. This was a submission-timing fee, not a fee for recording a particular transaction date.

What you can actually change

You do not control when a bank posts or settles a payment. You do control whether your sales records show the correct purchase date and whether your team submits approved charges promptly.

• Record the date the customer made the purchase, and retain the receipt or order record with it.
• Compare transaction dates with posting and settlement dates when reconciling sales to deposits.
• Submit approved charges promptly and track any unsubmitted or late items in your daily close.
• Keep Charge and Credit Records so you can support a transaction if a customer questions it.

1. 01
   Match dated records. Link each card sale to its receipt, invoice, or order using the date the customer paid.
2. 02
   Reconcile by date. Compare purchase dates with later posting and settlement records before treating a timing difference as a missing deposit.
3. 03
   Track submissions daily. Review approved charges that remain unsubmitted so they do not sit past the applicable submission period.

Frequently asked questions