QuickBooks Online CSV format requirements
QuickBooks Online will import bank transactions from a CSV, but only in one of two specific shapes, and it is unhelpfully strict about the details. This is the complete list of what it expects.
The two accepted layouts
Three columns
Date, description, and one signed amount. Negative for money out, positive for money in.
Date,Description,Amount
01/04/2026,DIRECT DEBIT ACME LTD,-82.40
02/04/2026,SALARY,2150.00
03/04/2026,CARD PAYMENT COFFEE,-3.10Four columns
Date, description, and money in and money out as separate columns. Each row fills one or the other, never both.
Date,Description,Credit,Debit
01/04/2026,DIRECT DEBIT ACME LTD,,82.40
02/04/2026,SALARY,2150.00,
03/04/2026,CARD PAYMENT COFFEE,,3.10The rules, one by one
| Rule | Detail |
|---|---|
| Required fields | Date, Description, Amount (or Credit/Debit) |
| Maximum file size | 350 KB. Split into shorter date ranges if bigger. |
| Money column headers | Exactly Amount, Credit or Debit. No extra words. |
| Header row | Must be the first row. No preamble, no account details above it. |
| Blank rows | Not allowed, anywhere in the file. |
| Empty money cells | Leave genuinely empty. Do not write 0. |
| Dates | One consistent format throughout, matching what you pick when mapping. |
| Amounts | Plain numbers. No currency symbol, no thousands separator. |
| Description | Plain text. Special and control characters can block the import. |
| Extra columns | Delete them. They cause mis-mapping. |
| File type | True CSV. On a Mac, save as Windows CSV. |
| Subaccounts | Cannot be imported into. Use the bank feed or the parent account. |
Where bank exports break these rules
Almost every real bank export violates at least one rule, which is why this is such a common waste of an afternoon:
- Preamble rows. Account name, sort code, statement period, then a blank line, then the headers.
- Formatted amounts.
£1,234.56with the symbol baked into the cell value. - Trailing minus or parentheses.
120.00-and(120.00)instead of-120.00. - CR/DR suffixes.
82.40 DRrather than a sign. - Separate running balance column. Harmless data, but it confuses the mapping step, so delete it.
- Semicolon delimiters and decimal commas. Standard across much of Europe; not a CSV QuickBooks can read.
- Ambiguous dates.
03/04/2026read as March 4 when the bank meant 3 April silently shifts a third of your transactions.
Skip the manual cleanup
Every item above is mechanical, which means a tool can do it. QBOKit reads your bank's CSV, detects the delimiter and the column roles, works out the real date order by looking at the whole column rather than the first row, normalises the amounts and signs, and writes a file in a shape QuickBooks accepts.
It runs entirely in your browser. Your transactions are never uploaded to us.