Bank Statement Converter for VAT Returns (Ireland) — PDF to Excel

What the VAT return needs from your statements

Revenue's standard VAT period is two months, and the VAT3 return comes down to a few figures: VAT on sales (T1), VAT on purchases (T2), and the net you pay or reclaim. Every one of those traces back to money that moved through your bank account — a card payment to a supplier, a SEPA transfer from a customer, a direct debit.

Getting there means working through two months of statement PDFs, where the payee and a SEPA reference are buried in a description column. As rows in Excel, you filter the sales, filter the purchases, and the VAT falls out at the 23% standard rate (or the reduced rates where they apply).

From PDF to a VAT-ready spreadsheet

1. Download each month's statement as a PDF — AIB Internet Banking, Bank of Ireland's 365 Online, Permanent TSB's Open24 and the others all keep statements online.
2. Convert each PDF to Excel or CSV. Every transaction returns as a row — date, description, debit, credit and running balance in euro — with the closing figure checked.
3. Combine the months into one sheet for the full VAT period.
4. Tag and total. Mark each line as a VAT-able sale, a claimable purchase, or out of scope, then total each for the T1 and T2 boxes.

Because Irish statements carry SEPA references and, on transfers, the counterparty's IBAN, keeping that detail is what lets you match a receipt to a customer or a payment to a supplier invoice.

What the converter handles that a copy-paste won't

An AIB or Bank of Ireland statement often runs a payment's reference onto a second line. Paste the PDF straight into a spreadsheet and that overflow reads as its own row, pushing the euro amounts into the wrong column. The converter joins each reference back to the payment it belongs to, so the debit and credit columns stay aligned and the period totals cleanly.

It also reconciles the euro figures before download — opening balance, plus credits, minus debits, has to land on the closing balance — so a line lost between pages is caught before it throws your VAT figure out.

Straight into Xero, Sage or Surf Accounts

Most Irish businesses reconcile in Xero, Sage or Surf Accounts, and all three import a bank file. Rather than a spreadsheet, you can export an import-ready file and bring the period in as bank transactions to code against your VAT rates, so the return is prepared from reconciled data. If an accountant files the VAT3 for you, a clean file beats a stack of PDFs.

Common pitfalls to avoid

• Wrong VAT rate. Ireland has several rates; tag each line so the reduced-rate and zero-rated items aren't all treated as 23%.
• Out-of-scope items. Wages, drawings and transfers carry no VAT — keep them separate so they don't distort either box.
• Reverse charge. Purchases from abroad can fall under reverse charge; keeping the payee and reference helps you flag them for correct treatment.
• Leaving it to the deadline. Convert each month as it closes and the two-monthly return is a short check.