American Express supplementary card transactions

This article explains how to deal with bank transactions from supplementary American Express cards in FreeAgent.

When you enable a bank feed with American Express (Amex), your business, corporate and personal credit card bank transactions will automatically import into FreeAgent. From 9th May 2024, transactions from American Express supplementary cards, which have slightly different account details from the main card, will also be automatically imported into FreeAgent.

Supplementary card transactions dated before 9th May 2024

If you have a single or small number of bank transactions from supplementary cards dated before 9th May 2024 that need to be included in FreeAgent, you can enter them manually into the American Express bank account you have already set up. However, if you have a large number of transactions, you can upload them into FreeAgent.

Please note:

  • You’ll need level 6 access or above to FreeAgent to enter bank transactions manually or upload them.

  • Any missing transactions that are dated in an accounting period that is locked due to a Self Assessment tax return having been filed, or marked as filed, or end-of-year accounts having been approved and signed, will need to be dated the day after the date that the accounts are locked to. This will be the first day of the next open accounting period.

  • If you add transactions that are dated in a VAT period that has been filed, or marked as filed, FreeAgent will preserve your existing locked VAT return and make any necessary changes on your next unlocked VAT return. These corrections will be dated the first day of the unlocked VAT return.

How to enter supplementary card bank transactions manually

To enter supplementary card transactions manually, navigate to the Banking section in FreeAgent and select the American Express bank account.

Next, select ‘Add transaction’ from the ‘More’ drop-down menu.

Add transaction highlighted from More drop-down menu.png

Enter the relevant details for the transaction and select ‘Create and Finish’ at the bottom of the screen if you only have one transaction to enter, or ‘Create and Add Another’ if you have multiple transactions to enter.

Example of manual bank transaction.png

How to upload supplementary card bank transactions into FreeAgent

If you only have a small number of transactions to upload, you can log in to your online banking and download a bank statement that includes the relevant supplementary card transactions dated before 9th May 2024. Make sure to export it as a ‘QIF’ file as this will reduce the likelihood of duplicate transactions being imported into FreeAgent. For information on downloading a bank statement, please contact American Express.

Please note that if you download a bank statement from your online banking as a CSV file, you’ll need to format the CSV file before you upload it into FreeAgent and remove any transactions that do not relate to the supplementary card to avoid any duplicates being added.

Alternatively, you can download and populate this CSV file template with the relevant supplementary card transactions dated before 9th May 2024.

Once you’ve downloaded the QIF file from your online banking or populated the CSV file template, navigate to the Banking section in FreeAgent and select the American Express bank account.

Next, select ‘Upload statement’.

Upload statement button highlighted.png

Choose 'Select file' and select the file you wish to upload.

Select a file highlighted.png

Select ‘Upload Statement’ to complete the process. Find out more about how to upload bank transactions from a bank statement in FreeAgent.

Once the missing transactions have been uploaded into FreeAgent, you’ll need to explain them to the relevant category in your accounts.

After 9th May, all your American Express bank transactions, including any from supplementary cards, will be automatically imported into FreeAgent and the bank balance in FreeAgent should match the balance in your American Express account. You can use the Bank Reconciliation report to help you check that the two figures match.

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