The problem, specifically
The tax year you need is almost always the one your bank will no longer export. CSV windows run to 90 days at Capital One and 12 to 24 months at most UK banks, while the filing deadline sits months after the year ended and an enquiry can arrive years later. The statements are still there as PDFs. The spreadsheet is not.
A workflow that works for tax filers
- Work out the exact period. The UK tax year runs 6 April to 5 April, which is why UK statements almost never line up with it and two partial months always need splitting. The US tax year is the calendar year.
- Convert every statement covering that period, across all accounts.
- Categorise each row against the headings on the return rather than inventing your own. Matching the form is what makes the sheet useful later.
- Total each category and keep the sheet with the PDFs. If an enquiry arrives, the sheet is your index into the documents.
How many pages this usually takes
A personal return is usually 12 to 30 pages for the year. Add a business account or rental income and it climbs quickly, which is when a monthly plan for one month costs less than the time.
Your first conversion runs without an account, so you can test the output on a real statement before deciding anything. A free account adds 7 free pages, and the monthly plans are priced by page count, which means you can move up a tier for a busy month and back down afterwards.
Deadlines and rules in the UK and US
UK self-assessment is due 31 January for the year ending the previous 5 April, and HMRC can open an enquiry up to four years later, or longer where it alleges carelessness. The US filing date is 15 April, with the IRS generally having three years to audit and six where substantial income was omitted. Both mean the records need to survive well past the deadline.
The part worth getting right
The reason to do this as a spreadsheet rather than a shoebox is the enquiry, not the filing. Being able to produce a categorised, totalled list that traces to statement lines turns a stressful letter into an afternoon.
Tax filers FAQs
How does a bank statement converter help with evidencing a tax year?
The tax year you need is almost always the one your bank will no longer export. CSV windows run to 90 days at Capital One and 12 to 24 months at most UK banks, while the filing deadline sits months after the year ended and an enquiry can arrive years later. The statements are still there as PDFs. The spreadsheet is not. Converting the statements puts every transaction into columns you can sort, filter and total, which is the part that is not practical to do by eye in a PDF.
My bank will not export the tax year I need. What now?
That is the normal case and the reason this page exists. Export windows are short, typically 90 days to two years, while PDF statement archives run five to seven years. Download the PDFs for the period and convert those; the data is identical, it is just locked in a document.
How do I handle a UK tax year that splits two statements?
Convert both months in full, then filter the combined sheet by date to 6 April through 5 April. Doing the cut in the spreadsheet rather than by hand is what stops transactions being counted twice or dropped at the boundary.
How many pages will I need?
A personal return is usually 12 to 30 pages for the year. Add a business account or rental income and it climbs quickly, which is when a monthly plan for one month costs less than the time. Your first conversion needs no account, a free account adds 7 free pages, and the monthly plans are priced by page count.
Can I convert scanned statements and photos?
Yes. Scanned PDFs, JPG and PNG files all go through OCR. Text-based PDFs are read directly and tend to be the most accurate, so use the original download when you still have it.
What happens to the statements I upload?
Uploads travel over a 256-bit encrypted connection, and files are deleted from our servers 24 hours after upload. Conversion is fully automated, so no member of staff opens your statement, and nothing is passed to a third party.
Other situations
Freelancers, Accountants and bookkeepers, Small business owners, Mortgage and loan applicants, Landlords and letting agents. There are also pages covering the export limits and statement archives bank by bank, or you can start from the main bank statement converter.