How to Import American Express Transactions into QuickBooks
American Express is a credit card account in QuickBooks, so getting it right is mostly about two things: importing into the credit card account (not a bank account) and making sure charges and payments have the right sign. Here are the three ways to do it.
Option 1: connect Amex to QuickBooks
QuickBooks Online: Banking → Bank transactions → Connect account, search for American Express, sign in with your Amex online credentials and pick the cards. Map each card to a Credit card account in your chart of accounts (create one per card if needed).
QuickBooks Desktop: Banking → Bank Feeds → Set Up Bank Feed for an Account, search for American Express and follow the prompts.
If the connection reports an error or stops syncing, see bank feed errors and how to keep working — and use Option 2 or 3 in the meantime.
Option 2: download a QuickBooks or Quicken file from Amex
According to American Express, you can download your recent activity and your past six billing statements to Quicken, QuickBooks or as a CSV file from your online account.
- Sign in at americanexpress.com on a computer and open the card’s statements & activity.
- Choose Download (or Export), pick the statement period or date range and the format.
- Prefer the QuickBooks format; take Quicken (.qfx) or CSV if that is what’s offered.
Import the file:
- QuickBooks Online: Banking → Link account ▾ → Upload from file, choose the file and the Amex credit card account.
- QuickBooks Desktop: File → Utilities → Import → Web Connect Files for a
.qbofile, then review it in the Bank Feeds Center. A.qfxfile needs converting first: QFX to QBO.
Option 3: Amex CSV to QBO (and fixing the signs)
The CSV is the most flexible download, but card CSVs trip up imports in one specific way: in many Amex CSV exports charges are positive numbers and payments negative — the opposite of a bank account. If you import that as-is, purchases show up as payments.
- Download the activity as CSV.
- Drop it into the CSV to QBO converter. Date, description and amount columns are detected automatically.
- Look at the preview: purchases must show as money out (red, negative), payments to Amex as money in. If they are the other way round, tick Reverse signs.
- Choose Credit card as the account type and download the
.qbofile. - Import it into the Amex credit card account as in Option 2.
The converter remembers your column and sign settings for this Amex file layout in your browser, so next month it’s one click. Files are converted locally and never uploaded.
Older history and year-end summaries
- American Express says transactions from the previous two years can be exported as PDF, Excel or CSV — use CSV or Excel and convert them as above (Excel to QBO).
- The Year-End Summary is available in QuickBooks, Quicken, Excel, PDF and CSV formats. It is a good source for catching up a whole year at once; import it into the same card account, then reconcile each statement.
- For anything older, only PDF statements may remain: see PDF bank statement to Excel.
Several cards on one Amex login
Business accounts often have employee cards. Decide whether each card gets its own QuickBooks credit card account (best for tracking who spent what) or all cards go into one account. Download and import one card per file to keep them apart.