How to Import Bank Statement to Xero (2026 Guide)

Log in to your Xero account and click Accounting in the top navigation menu. Select Bank Accounts from the dropdown to see all your connected bank accounts and their current balances.

Find the bank account you want to import transactions into. Click on the account name or click the Manage Account button next to it. Then select Import a Statement from the options. This opens the bank statement import wizard for that specific account.

Warning: Make sure you select the correct bank account. Importing transactions to the wrong account will create reconciliation problems that need manual correction.

Your CSV file needs at minimum a Date column and an Amount column. Positive amounts represent money received (deposits), while negative amounts represent money paid out (withdrawals). You can optionally include Payee, Description, Reference, and ChequeNumber columns for richer transaction data.

Tip: For precoded bank statements, include AccountCode, TaxType, and ContactName columns to enable automatic categorization and faster reconciliation.

Ensure dates in your CSV match your Xero region setting. US organizations use MM/DD/YYYY format, while UK, Australia, and New Zealand use DD/MM/YYYY. The file must be UTF-8 encoded. Check your region under Settings > General Settings if you are unsure which date format your Xero organization expects.

Warning: Date format mismatch is the most common import error. If your dates are in the wrong format, Xero may misinterpret them (e.g., treating 03/04/2026 as March 4 instead of April 3).

In the import wizard, click Browse or Select File to choose your saved CSV file from your computer. Click Next to proceed. Xero will read the file and attempt to automatically detect and map the columns.

Xero displays a preview of your data with the detected column mappings. Verify that the Date, Amount, Payee, and Description columns are correctly identified. If Xero misidentifies any columns, use the dropdown menus to manually reassign them. Xero remembers your column mapping for future imports from the same source.

Tip: Xero saves your column mapping preferences. If you import from the same source regularly, subsequent imports will map columns automatically.

Review the transaction preview to confirm the data looks correct. Check that amounts have the right sign (positive for deposits, negative for payments) and that dates are parsed correctly. Click Import to finalize. Xero processes the file and adds the transactions to the selected bank account.

Warning: Xero allows a maximum of 1,000 transactions per CSV file. If you have more, split your file into multiple batches.

After importing, navigate to the bank account and open the Reconcile tab. Xero displays the imported transactions alongside suggested matches from your invoices, bills, and existing records. Match each transaction to the correct account or contact, or create new transactions as needed.

Tip: If you included precoded fields (AccountCode, TaxType, ContactName) in your CSV, Xero will pre-populate the categorization, significantly speeding up reconciliation.