QuickBooks bank CSV examples for 3 and 4 columns
Choose three columns when your bank gives you one signed amount per transaction. Choose four when it lists withdrawals and deposits separately. Before you finish the import, check how QuickBooks displays one known payment and one known deposit.
How do the same two transactions look in each CSV?
Suppose a business pays $125.50 from its checking account for office supplies on August 13. On August 14 the merchant refunds $25.50 to the same account. The statement shows two posted transactions and a net decrease of $100.00. Both fictional files below use day/month/year dates.
| Date | Description | Amount |
|---|---|---|
| 13/08/2026 | Office supplies | −125.50 |
| 14/08/2026 | Partial merchant refund | 25.50 |
Download the three-column example. Map the monetary column to the single amount field. The minus sign carries the direction of the purchase. The refund brings money back into the checking account.
| Date | Description | Credit | Debit |
|---|---|---|---|
| 13/08/2026 | Office supplies | 125.50 | |
| 14/08/2026 | Partial merchant refund | 25.50 |
Download the four-column example. Each row has one positive value and one empty money cell. In this file, Debit contains the withdrawal and Credit contains the refund.
Which column should I map to money out?
Find the $125.50 purchase in the source statement. The column containing that value in your four-column file must map to money out. In the sample above, that is Debit. Intuit’s Singapore guide illustrates a payment under Credit and a deposit under Debit. When using its example, follow the movement shown by the example. Confirm both directions in the upload preview. Intuit’s bank CSV format guide.
If the preview shows the purchase as money received, return to the mapping step. Select the column containing 125.50 for money out and the column containing 25.50 for money in. If your upload screen makes that mapping unclear, the three-column sample lets you check the signed amounts directly.
What should the preview show before I import?
For these files, check the intended checking account, two August dates, a $125.50 outflow and a $25.50 inflow. Their signed sum is −$100.00. For an opening balance of $1,000.00, the expected closing balance is $900.00. Upload one layout for a given period. Uploading both files would submit the same purchase and refund twice.
A credit card payment needs a separate check. Identify whose balance you are reading and select the matching credit card account in QuickBooks. A repayment reduces the card balance owed while the same payment leaves the checking account.