How to import a bank statement into Xero
Checked against Xero's own help pages in October 2026. Sources are at the end.
Xero imports bank statements as CSV, OFX, QFX, QIF or QuickBooks (QBO) files, not PDFs. If all you have is a PDF statement, turn it into a CSV in Xero's layout, then use Import a Statement on the bank account in Xero. This page shows the columns Xero needs, the import steps, how credit cards work and the errors people usually hit.
If your bank has a feed into Xero, use the feed for new transactions. Importing a statement is for the gaps: periods before the feed started, closed accounts, and banks or cards without a feed.
What Xero needs in the file
| Column | Needed? | What goes in it |
|---|---|---|
| Date | Yes | One format for the whole file, such as DD/MM/YYYY (UK), MM/DD/YYYY (US) or YYYY/MM/DD. |
| Amount | Yes | Money in and money out in the same column: income positive, spending negative, as -30.00 or (30.00). No commas as decimal points. |
| Payee | No | Who paid or was paid. Xero recommends it. If the payee is already a contact in Xero, the name must match the contact exactly, or you can end up with a duplicate contact. |
| Description | No | Shown as Particulars on the account's Bank statements tab. |
| Reference | No | An invoice number or other reference. |
Xero also asks you to take out anything that isn't a transaction: opening and closing balance columns (Xero works the balance out from the transactions), the account number and empty rows. Use one file per account, and no more than 100,000 rows. A header row is optional, but it makes the columns easier to match; it has to be row 1, with a different name for each column.
Turn a PDF statement into a Xero file
- Upload the PDF on our converter. You see the result before you pay anything.
- Check the balance result. We add every transaction to the opening balance and compare the total with the closing balance printed on the statement. If they don't match, we list the rows to check.
- Download the Xero file. It has Date, Amount, Payee, Description and Reference columns, one signed Amount column and no balance column. Dates follow the statement: DD/MM/YYYY for UK statements and MM/DD/YYYY for US ones.
These are the first rows of a Xero file from a sample UK statement:
Date,Amount,Payee,Description,Reference
03/10/2025,-86.40,"Card payment to SCREWFIX DIRECT On 02 Oct","Card payment to SCREWFIX DIRECT On 02 Oct",
06/10/2025,450.00,"Bill payment from ACME LETTINGS LTD Ref: INV 1042","Bill payment from ACME LETTINGS LTD Ref: INV 1042",
06/10/2025,-32.00,"Direct debit to VODAFONE LTD","Direct debit to VODAFONE LTD",Statements don't print the payee separately, so Payee and Description both carry the bank's description and Reference is empty. When you reconcile, pick or create the real contact (Screwfix, not "Card payment to SCREWFIX…"). Or leave Payee unassigned at import and the bank's wording stays in Particulars only.
Import it into Xero
You need Xero's administrator role, or the standard + bank accounts role. Then:
- In the Accounting menu, select Bank accounts.
- Next to the account, click the menu (three dots) and select Import a Statement.
- Drag the file into File to upload, or click Select file, then click Next.
- The first time, assign the columns: Date to Transaction Date and Amount to Transaction Amount (both must be assigned), and the others to the fields of the same name. Xero remembers this for later files with the same headings. Click Next.
- If Xero asks for the date format, choose the one your file uses. Click Next.
- Review the lines, untick any you don't want, and click Complete import.
The lines then wait on the reconcile screen, where you match or code them as usual.
Credit card statements
A credit card account in Xero imports the same way. Xero wants payments to the card as positive amounts and purchases as negative ones. Card statements print it the other way round, because a purchase adds to what you owe.
Our converter spots a card statement and writes it the way Xero wants: purchases, fees and interest negative, and payments and refunds positive. Import the file into the card account, not your bank account. When you reconcile, record the payment from your bank account to the card as a transfer between the two accounts, so it isn't counted as income or as an expense.
Common problems
- Day and month swapped. Xero applies the date format you choose to the whole file and to later CSV imports. If a UK file was read as US dates (or the other way round), dates after the 12th fail or land in the wrong month. Import again and choose the right format.
- Every amount is positive. The file has separate paid in and paid out columns, or no minus signs. Xero needs one signed Amount column. Our files are already signed.
- Lines missing after import. Xero treats lines that match ones already in the account as duplicates and doesn't import them. That's what you want when two statements overlap. The review screen shows which lines will be imported before you finish.
- The balance in Xero is wrong. Check the account's opening balance in Xero, and that no statement period was imported twice or skipped.
Sources
Menus and button names change. If a step here no longer matches what you see, the program's own page is the one to follow, and tell us so we can update this guide.