Welcome to the Fit Small Business QuickBooks Online training course! In this lesson, we’re going to cover how to import your business credit cards into QuickBooks Online. We’ll explain how to automatically link up your credit card accounts to QuickBooks as well as how to import credit card transactions manually using a CSV file.
If you cannot locate your bank on QuickBooks online or if you need to download more than 90 days of credit card transactions, then you’ll need to import your credit card transactions using an Excel format called .CSV or a .QBO file. We’ll cover how to do that later in this lesson.
You can follow along on your own QuickBooks Online account. If you don't have one already, click here to sign up for a free 30-day trial and follow along below.
To complete this lesson, you can either watch the video below, read through the step-by-step instructions, or do both. Let’s begin!
Why is it Important to Connect your Credit Card Account to QuickBooks?
One of the many benefits of QuickBooks Online is you can save a lot of time by downloading your business credit card transactions into QuickBooks instead of manually inputting each transaction.
Most big banks allow you to quickly and easily connect to QuickBooks, some of the smaller banks and credit unions do not have that capability. We consider Bank of America to be the best bank for small businesses, based on their low rates.
A WORD OF CAUTION: If you don’t have a business bank account and are using a personal bank account, then I recommend getting a separate bank account for your business as soon as possible and then connect it to QuickBooks. It is always best practice from an accounting and tax standpoint to keep business activities completely separate from personal. Click here to set up a small business bank account with Bank of America.
How to Automatically Import Your Credit Card Transactions to QuickBooks Online
In order to connect your credit card account to QuickBooks, you will need your online banking user ID and password to log into your account.
Step 1: Navigate to the Banking Center
From the Home Page, select Transactions and then Banking from the left menu bar:
- Type your bank/credit card name in the search box as indicated below or
- Select from the list of banks/credit card companies right below the search box.
If you are unable to locate your credit card company or you need to download more than 90 days of credit card transactions then you need to Upload Credit Card Transactions using CSV Format which is covered later in this lesson.
Step 2: Log Into your Business Credit Card account
You should see your bank login screen like the one below.
Enter the user ID and password that you normally use to access your business credit card account as we have done for Paul, owner of fictitious company Paul’s Plumbing.
Depending on your internet connection and the number of accounts that you have, it may take a few minutes for QuickBooks to connect to your bank.
Step 3: Select Business Credit Card Accounts
You should see a screen similar to the one below that will list all of the accounts you have at this bank.
- Place a checkmark in the first column for each account you would like to connect to QuickBooks.
- Account Name: This is the bank’s name for the account. No edits can be made to this field.
- QuickBooks Account: From the drop down, select the QuickBooks account you want to link to this bank account. If you have not setup the account in QuickBooks yet, select Add Account from the drop down.
Your screen should display the following account setup window. Complete the fields below to setup Paul’s credit card in QuickBooks:
A. Category Type: Select the type of account you are downloading transactions for. Typically this would be either a Bank or Credit Card account.
B. Detail Type: This field automatically populates with Credit Card based on the selection made in the Account Type field.
C. Name: This is how the account name will show up in QuickBooks.
D. Description: Put the bank/credit card name and the last 4 digits of the account number.
TIP: If you’ve got more than one business credit card that you plan to connect to QuickBooks, including the name of the card and the last 4 digits of the card number allows you to easily tell one credit card account from another when you reconcile these accounts.
E. Double check to make sure that you have make selections in all 5 fields. Click the Save and Close button
Step 4: Select the right date range
The maximum # of transactions that will download is 90 days. If you need to download more than 90 days of credit card transactions then skip to the Uploading Transactions using CSV format section of this course.
If you would like a shorter date range, just click the link that says need a shorter date range as indicated below:
If the date you start using QuickBooks is less than 90 days, then you would need to use a shorter date range.
Below is an example of when you might need to use a shorter date range:
Example: Paul has decided that he is going to start using one of his personal credit card accounts for business only. He has had this credit card for a number of years now but just stopped using it for personal expenses about a month ago.
In this situation, Paul only wants to download transactions for the last 30 days into his QuickBooks account. In this situation, he needs to modify the date range by clicking the Need a shorter date range link and enter in the correct date range. If he does not do this, QuickBooks will automatically download the last 90 days of transactions and that will include personal expenses which Paul does not want to add to his QuickBooks file.
Step 5: Click Connect
Before you click the blue connect button, double check to make sure that you did not select any accounts that you do not want to keep track of in QuickBooks. (i.e. personal bank accounts)
A WORD OF CAUTION: Once you click Connect, all transactions will be downloaded into QuickBooks. Unfortunately there is no automatic undo button. Later on if you find out that you accidentally selected an account that you do not want connected to QuickBooks then you will need to manually delete all of those transactions before you can delete the credit card from QuickBooks.
Once you are ready, click the blue Connect button to start the process of downloading your credit card transactions into your QuickBooks file.
Depending on the number of accounts you have selected and the date range, this could take a while to complete.
Step 6 – Transactions have been downloaded
Once the transactions have been successfully downloaded into QuickBooks, the following message will display:
Step 7 – Review Downloaded Transactions
In the Banking Center, you should see the credit card account and balance as indicated below.
If you have other credit card accounts that you want to track in QuickBooks then you can just click the blue Add account button as indicated above and go back to step 1.
To learn how to manage banking transactions after they are downloaded, watch our step-by-step video tutorial on How do I manage downloaded banking transactions.
When to Import Credit Card Transactions Using a CSV File
If you can’t directly connect your credit card account to QuickBooks or you need to download more than 90 days of credit card transactions, it is important that you know how to upload your credit card transactions using an Excel .CSV file or .QBO file.
To obtain this type of file, log into your credit card account and go to the section where you can download transactions and credit card statements. Most likely you will have the option to download your transactions in multiple formats.
If you don’t see either of these options (.CSV or .QBO) then contact your credit card company. Let them know that you would like to download your credit card transactions into QuickBooks and you would like to know how to do that from their website.
How to Import Credit Cards Transactions into QuickBooks Online with a CSV File
Step 1 – Navigate to the Banking Center
From the left icon bar, select Transactions and Banking.
Step 2 – Select Upload a File
Click the Upload a file option as indicated below at the very bottom of the screen.
Step 3 – Select the File to Upload
Click Browse to locate the file that you wish to upload.
Step 4 – Select a QuickBooks Account
From the drop down, select the QuickBooks account you want to link to this credit card account. If you have not set up the account in QuickBooks yet, you can do that by clicking the drop down menu and selecting Add New.
Step 5 – Set Up the QuickBooks Account
Your screen should display the following account setup window. Complete the fields below to setup Paul’s VISA credit card in QuickBooks:
- Account Type: Select the type of account you are downloading transactions for. Typically this would be either a Bank or Credit Card account.
- Detail Type: This field automatically populates with Credit Card based on the selection made in the Account Type field.
- Name: This is how the account name will show up in QuickBooks.
TIP: If you’ve got more than one business credit card that you plan to connect to QuickBooks then be sure to include the name of the card and the last 4 digits of the card number. This will allow you to easily tell one credit card account from another when you reconcile each month. - Description: Put the bank/credit card name and the last 4 digits of the account #.
- Double check to make sure that you have make selections in all 5 fields. Click the Save and Close button.
Once you have both the Bank file and the QuickBooks Account selected as indicated below, you can proceed to the next screen.
Step 6 – Map the QuickBooks Online Fields to Your Bank Account Fields
Map the fields in your upload file to the fields in QuickBooks Online.
- If your CSV file has a header row, make sure to check the box at the top left of the screen as indicated above.
- Select the column that has the date in it
- Select the format of the date column
- Select the column that has the description of the transaction (i.e. Staples)
- Select whether your file has both positive and negative numbers in one column or if it separates the positive and negative numbers into two columns.
- Select the column that has the positive numbers (Debit)
- Select the column that has the negative numbers (Credit)
Step 7 – Select Credit Card Transactions to Import
Select the transactions to import into QuickBooks by putting a checkmark in the first column and select Next.
TIP #1: If you get to this screen and there are no transactions listed, make sure that you have done the following:
- Remove any formatting like $ from the dollar amount column
- Delete any blank rows in your spreadsheet. Be sure that everything begins at row 1, column 1 of the spreadsheet.
TIP #2: If you make any changes to your spreadsheet, you will need save it & reupload it. Go back to Step 3 to do this.
Step 8 – Confirm transactions to Import
Click Next and QuickBooks will confirm the number of transactions that you have selected for download:
If you agree with the # of transactions then select Yes. Otherwise, select No to go back and make any necessary changes.
Step 9 – Transactions have been downloaded
Once the transactions have been successfully imported the following message will display:
Step 10 – Review Imported Transactions
In the Banking Center, you should see the credit card account and balance as indicated below.
Wrap Up
That wraps up the section on how to Import Business Credit Card Accounts into QuickBooks. The next lesson in our QuickBooks Online Training Course will be How to Grant Multiple Users Access to Your QuickBooks Data. In this lesson, we will walk through how to give your accountant and bookkeeper access to your QuickBooks data.
To access this lesson or any of the others in the series, click here.
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