Uploading Bank Statements

If you have a dedicated business bank account for your rental properties, you can upload bank statements to Provestor. The AI extracts transactions automatically, and you review and categorise them in a single flow.

This is usually faster than manually entering each transaction, especially if you have a high volume of property-related payments.

This guide covers how to upload statements, what happens during AI extraction, and how to review and save imported transactions.

Why upload bank statements?

Speed and accuracy

Uploading statements is faster than manual entry. Provestor extracts transaction details (date, description, amount) automatically, reducing typing errors and saving time.

Complete record keeping

When you upload a full statement, you're less likely to miss transactions. You can see every line from your bank, making it easier to ensure your records are complete.

Account balance reconciliation

Uploading statements helps you verify that your Provestor account balance matches your actual bank balance. This makes it easier to spot missing or duplicate transactions.

Supported file formats

Provestor accepts PDF, PNG, and JPG files for bank statement uploads.

Not supported:

  • CSV files
  • Excel files (XLS, XLSX)
  • OFX or other banking data formats

Most banks provide PDF statements as standard. If your bank only provides CSV or Excel exports, you'll need to manually enter transactions or take a screenshot of your online banking and upload that as an image.

How to upload a bank statement

Step 1: Download your statement

Download a PDF statement from your bank, or take a screenshot of your online banking transaction list.

If taking a screenshot, make sure all transaction details are visible: date, description, and amount for each transaction.

Step 2: Upload to Provestor

  1. In your Property Business workspace, select the bank account you want to import transactions into (e.g. Business Bank Account)
  2. Choose Upload statement
  3. Drag and drop your file, or choose Browse to select it from your device

Provestor begins processing the file immediately.

Step 3: Wait for AI extraction

The AI extracts transaction lines from your statement. This usually takes 10-30 seconds depending on the number of transactions.

You'll see a progress indicator while extraction is running.

How AI extraction works

Provestor's AI attempts to extract and categorise every transaction from your statement.

What the AI does:

  1. Extracts transaction details — Date, description, and amount for each line
  2. Suggests categories — Looks for similar past transactions you've categorised, or predicts based on the description
  3. Creates draft transactions — All imported transactions are marked as drafts until you review and save them

The AI can make mistakes. This is why transactions are imported as drafts — you need to check and confirm everything before they're included in your tax records.

How categorisation works

The AI tries to categorise transactions in two ways:

1. Match against your history

If you've categorised similar transactions before (same description and amount), the AI suggests the same category and property.

2. Predict from description

If there's no match in your history, the AI predicts based on the transaction description. For example, "Halifax Mortgage" might be categorised as "Mortgages and property finance costs."

This prediction isn't always correct — you must review every suggestion.

Review and save imported transactions

Once extraction completes, you'll see an alert:

X transactions imported as drafts. Review and save to finalise them.

Choose Start review to begin checking the imported transactions.

Review workflow

Provestor opens the first imported transaction in the transaction editor.

For each transaction:

  1. Check the details — Confirm date, description, and amount are correct
  2. Check the category — Verify the AI chose the right category
  3. Check the property — Confirm it's linked to the correct property
  4. Adjust if needed — Edit any incorrect details, or delete the transaction if it shouldn't be recorded (see When to delete transactions below)
  5. Choose Save

When you save, the transaction is no longer a draft and will be included in your quarterly updates.

Provestor automatically moves to the next imported transaction for you to review.

Navigation: Use the arrows at the top of the editor to move between imported transactions if you need to skip ahead or go back.

What to check when reviewing

Check all transactions are present

Count how many transactions were imported and compare against your bank statement. If any are missing, you'll need to add them manually.

Check dates and amounts

Verify that dates and amounts match your statement exactly. The AI sometimes misreads complex layouts.

Check categories

This is the most important check. The AI suggests categories, but these can be wrong — especially for:

  • Transfers between your own accounts (often miscategorised as income or expenses)
  • Transactions with vague descriptions (e.g. "Payment received")
  • First-time transactions the AI hasn't seen before

See Which category should I use? for guidance on categorisation.

Check properties

If you have multiple properties, make sure each transaction is linked to the correct one.

When to delete transactions

Some transactions shouldn't be recorded in your property business records. Delete these during review:

Personal transactions

If your bank account isn't exclusively for property business, you may have personal transactions mixed in. Delete anything unrelated to your rental properties, or set it to the "disallowed" category.

Transfers between your own accounts

If the transaction is a transfer between accounts you control (e.g. moving money from your personal account to your business account), you can either:

  • Delete it and record it as a transfer instead (see Transfers)
  • Leave it out entirely if you don't need to track internal movements

Transfers don't count as income or expenses for tax purposes.

Duplicate transactions

If you've already recorded a transaction manually, delete the duplicate from the import.

Handling transfers

Transfers may be miscategorised. Bank descriptions make it hard to reliably distinguish between:

  • A transfer to another account you own (not taxable)
  • A payment to a supplier like a builder (allowable expense)

If a transaction is wrongly categorised as income or an expense, but it's actually a transfer:

  1. Delete the transaction during review
  2. Use Add transfer to record it correctly as a transfer between accounts

See Transfers for detailed guidance on when to use transfers and how to record them.

Use your opening balance to verify accuracy

If you set an opening balance for your bank account when you first configured it in Provestor, you can use this to check your work.

After reviewing and saving all imported transactions, check that the account balance in Provestor matches the closing balance on your bank statement.

If they don't match:

  • A transaction might be missing from the import
  • You might have a duplicate transaction
  • A transaction amount might be incorrect
  • You might have deleted something that should be recorded (or vice versa)

This is a quick way to spot errors before moving on.

For guidance on setting opening balances, see How to set up bank accounts.

Best practices for statement uploads

Upload regularly

Upload statements monthly or quarterly rather than waiting until year-end. This keeps your records current and makes reconciliation easier.

Upload complete statements

Upload full statement periods (e.g. 1 month) rather than partial screenshots. This ensures you capture all transactions and makes it easier to reconcile.

Review immediately

Review and save imported transactions as soon as the upload completes. Don't leave drafts sitting in your account — they won't be included in your tax calculations until you save them.

Check your balance

Always verify that your Provestor balance matches your bank statement after processing an upload. This confirms everything is recorded correctly.

For more tips, see Record keeping best practices.

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