How to record from letting agent statements

Your letting agent's monthly statement contains all the transaction detail you need for Making Tax Digital. This guide explains why agent statements are your authoritative source, what information they contain, and how to record transactions in Provestor.

Why agent statements are your source of truth

When you use a letting agent, the monthly net payment they transfer to your bank account doesn't show the individual transactions Making Tax Digital requires.

Your agent statement shows:

  • Rent collected from tenants (income)
  • Letting agent management fees (expense)
  • Property expenses paid by your agent on your behalf (expenses)
  • The resulting net payment transferred to you

For MTD compliance, you need to record each of these separately. The agent statement is your authoritative source because it shows these transactions at the point they occurred, not when the net payment reached your bank.

When rent is recognised for tax

Under cash basis accounting, rental income is recognised when your agent receives payment from the tenant, not when they later transfer net funds to you.

This prevents timing distortions where agents hold money for several days or weeks before remitting it. It also ensures income is recognised consistently, even when payment cycles vary across agents or funds are retained temporarily for repairs.

See Cash basis accounting for more about how the cash basis works.

What agent statements contain

A typical letting agent statement shows:

Income:

  • Rent received from tenants
  • Any other charges collected (service charges, utility recharges)

Expenses:

  • Letting agent management fees
  • Property expenses paid by the agent (repairs, maintenance, insurance)
  • Tenant find fees or other one-off charges

Net payment:

  • The balance transferred to your bank account after deducting fees and expenses

The individual income and expense lines are what you record in Provestor. The net payment itself doesn't need to be recorded as income or an expense — that would double-count everything.

How to record transactions from agent statements

Step 1: Upload your agent statement

In your business workspace, select your letting agent account.

Choose Upload statement and drag and drop your PDF statement, or choose Browse to select it from your device.

Provestor's AI extracts transactions from the statement. This usually takes 10-30 seconds.

The upload process works identically to uploading bank statements — the AI recognises letting agent statement formats and extracts the relevant transaction lines.

Step 2: Review extracted transactions

After extraction, you'll see a list of transactions the AI has identified:

Income transactions — Rent received from tenants, shown with the date your agent collected payment.

Expense transactions — Agent fees and any expenses your agent paid on your behalf.

The AI attempts to categorise each transaction automatically. Review each one (using the same approach as uploading bank statements) and adjust the category if needed.

Step 3: Save to your records

Once you've reviewed and confirmed all transactions, save them.

The income and expenses are now part of your digital records and will be included in your next quarterly update.

What not to record

Don't record the net payment as an expense. The net payment is the result after income and expenses have already been accounted for. Recording it as "cash out" would incorrectly submit it to HMRC as a property expense.

If you want to track the net payment: Record it as a transfer from your agent account to your bank account. This keeps your account balances accurate without affecting your tax calculation.

If you don't track account balances: You can ignore the net payment entirely. The income and expenses are what matter for MTD.

Recording transactions manually

If your agent doesn't provide PDF statements, or if the AI extraction doesn't work for your statement format, you can enter transactions manually.

The process is the same as recording any other income or expense, except you'll add them to your letting agent account instead of your bank account. Remember to use the date when your agent received or paid the transaction, not when they transferred net funds to you.

See Adding rental income for recording rent collected by your agent, and Capturing expenses for recording agent fees and agent-paid expenses.

Best practices for monthly statement processing

Process statements monthly — Don't wait until the quarterly deadline. Regular monthly processing keeps your records current and makes it easier to spot errors or missing information.

Check for missing statements — If you don't receive a statement from your agent one month, contact them. Missing statements create gaps in your records.

Match to bank deposits — Periodically check that the net payments on your statements match the deposits in your bank account. See Reconciling agent data below.

Reconciling agent data

Reconciliation means checking that the transactions you've recorded from agent statements match the money you actually received in your bank account.

Why reconciliation matters

Reconciliation helps you:

  • Spot missing or duplicate transactions
  • Identify discrepancies between what your agent says they paid and what you received
  • Ensure your digital records are complete and accurate

How to reconcile

Once per quarter (before sending your quarterly update), check:

1. Total net payments Add up the net payments shown on your agent statements for the quarter. This should match the total deposits from your agent in your bank account for the same period.

2. Timing differences Your agent may have collected rent in March but not transferred net funds until April. The income is recorded in March (when collected), but the bank deposit appears in April. This is normal.

3. Missing or late payments If your bank balance doesn't match your agent statement totals, check:

  • Has your agent transferred all the net payments they said they would?
  • Are any transfers still in transit?
  • Did your agent retain funds for a specific reason (e.g. holding back for an upcoming repair)?

When to contact your agent

Contact your letting agent if you notice:

  • A net payment shown on a statement that never reached your bank account
  • A bank deposit that doesn't match any statement you've received
  • Significant timing delays (more than 10 working days between statement and payment)

Keep a record of the discrepancy and your agent's explanation. If funds are genuinely missing, you may need to pursue this with your agent.

PreviousSetting Up Letting Agents
NextAdding Agent Fees

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