If your customers pay by card or through an app, you may never open a cash drawer. A payment processor collects the money, and a payout can reach the bank a day or more later. When it is time to apply for funding, the natural question is which record to send: the neat report the processor provides, or the bank statements. This page answers that and shows how to connect the two so you can explain your own numbers.
Why the bank statement is the document
A processor report is the platform's own account of your sales. A bank statement is the bank's account of money that actually entered and left your business account. A funding source is reading cash flow, and cash flow is what lands in the account, so it asks for the document that shows it.
That does not make your processor records worthless. They can help you explain what a funding source sees. They simply do not satisfy the statement requirement.
What counts and what does not
| Record | What it is | Satisfies the statement requirement? |
|---|---|---|
| Business bank statement (original PDF) | The bank's record of deposits and withdrawals in your business account. | Yes, when complete and in your business's exact name. |
| Payment processor dashboard or payout report | The platform's record of sales and payouts. | No. Useful supporting context only. |
| Payment app activity screen | An in-app view of transactions and balance. | No. |
| Sales report, spreadsheet or invoice | Your own record of what you billed or sold. | No. |
| Screenshot or photo of a statement | A picture of a document, not the document. | No. Upload the original PDF when you can. |
| Personal account statement | The owner's own account, not the business's. | No. |
If you upload a file that is not a bank statement, T.A.G. receives it, but receipt is not the same as qualifying, and you may be asked for the original bank statement. For the wider picture, see which bank statements count for business funding.
What to upload
- The four most recent consecutive monthly business bank statements for the account your payouts and other business receipts land in. That means four adjacent calendar months with no gaps. If a funding source asks for additional months, you may be asked for more.
- Original bank-generated PDFs. Download them from your bank. Do not send screenshots or photos when the PDF exists.
- Every page, including a numbered blank page or an information page. A missing page makes the statement incomplete.
- Unaltered and unredacted. Do not edit, crop or black out anything. A funding source can ask to verify an account digitally before funds are released, so what you upload should match what the bank shows.
- In your business's exact name, spelled as the bank prints it. Read why in why the business name must match your bank statements.
For the download itself, see how to download business bank statements as PDFs.
How processor payouts appear on the statement
On your statement, a processor payout is a deposit. Depending on how your processor is set up, deposits can arrive daily or weekly, and each one may combine the sales from several days. That is why the deposit total for a month is not the same thing as the sales total for the month on the processor's report. The statement shows what reached the bank, and the funding source reads it that way.
Several things can make a payout differ from the sales behind it:
- A payout may cover sales from more than one day, and the processor's cut-off for a day may not match a calendar day.
- The processor may deduct its own fees or adjustments before depositing.
- Sales near the end of a month may be paid out in the next month, so a month's deposits and a month's sales do not line up exactly.
How to reconcile a processor report to your statement
Reconciling means tracing each deposit on the bank statement back to the processor's records, so you can explain it if you are asked. It is ordinary bookkeeping that helps you speak with confidence about your own deposits.
- Download the bank statement for one month and the processor's payout report for the same period.
- List each deposit on the statement with its date and amount.
- Find the payout in the processor report with the matching amount and date. Allow for a gap between the payout date and the date the bank posted it.
- Note any payout that was reduced by fees, refunds or a dispute, and write down why.
- Add up the deposits that matched. If a deposit does not match any payout, identify its source, for example a customer check or a transfer.
- Repeat for each month. Keep the notes with your own records, and never in place of the statements.
Do not adjust a statement to make it match. Only the unedited document should be uploaded.
If the processor also provides your business account
Some online business accounts are offered by the same company that processes your payments. That is a different situation from a processor dashboard. If the account genuinely issues bank-style statements, complete, dated and in your business's exact name, those statements are reviewed on their evidence, like any other business account statements. A dashboard or activity screen from the same company is still not a statement.
Acceptance in that case is specific to each funding source, and T.A.G. cannot say how a particular source will treat a particular account. T.A.G. does not publish a list of institutions or providers, because each funding source sets its own review standards. The comparison of account types is in traditional bank or fintech business account for funding.
Keep business and personal money separate
If some of your sales are paid out to a personal account, the business account statement will not show them, and personal statements are not reviewed for funding. Point your processor's payouts at the business account, and keep personal spending out of it. If your business money is currently going through a personal account, read business funding with only a personal account. If you have more than one business account, see which business account statements to upload.
A hypothetical example
This is a hypothetical illustration, not a real applicant. A salon owner takes card payments and also collects some payments through an app. The processor pays out to the business checking account twice a week. The owner is about to apply and is not sure what to send.
The owner downloads the four most recent consecutive monthly statements for the business checking account, every page, as PDFs from the bank. The owner also pulls the processor's payout report for the last month and matches each deposit to a payout. Two deposits are smaller than the sales behind them because of fees, and the owner makes a short note of that. The owner uploads the four statements and keeps the note on hand. Nothing was sent in place of a statement.
Before you upload: a short checklist
- You have four consecutive monthly business bank statements, and they are the bank's own PDFs.
- Every page of every statement is there, unaltered and unredacted.
- The account name matches your business name as it appears on your application.
- Your processor and app payouts land in this business account.
- You can explain each large deposit, and you have kept your reconciliation notes separately.
- Business and personal money are kept apart.
Frequently asked questions
Do I upload my payment processor report or my bank statements?
Upload your business bank statements. A funding source asks for the bank's own statements. A processor report or payment app screen can help you explain your revenue, but it is not a bank statement and does not satisfy the statement requirement.
Why can't I just send my processor dashboard? It shows all my sales.
A dashboard is a record the platform keeps about your sales. A bank statement is a record the bank keeps about money that actually moved in and out of your account. A funding source reads the deposits and withdrawals in the bank's record, so that is the document it asks for.
My processor pays out in batches. Will the deposits on my statement look different from my sales?
They can. A payout may combine several days of sales, and it may arrive net of the processor's own adjustments, so a deposit on the statement will not always equal a single day of sales. That is worth being ready to explain. Matching each payout to the processor report shows where the difference comes from.
Should I send the processor report along with my bank statements?
Only if it helps explain something, and as a supporting note. It never replaces the four consecutive business bank statements. If you are unsure whether to attach it, ask before you upload.
What if my business account is held by an online provider?
A business account that issues genuine, complete bank-style statements in your business's exact name is reviewed on the evidence of those statements. Whether a particular funding source accepts it is that source's decision, and T.A.G. cannot promise the outcome.
Does T.A.G. decide whether my documents are acceptable?
T.A.G. is an independent ISO and broker, not a lender. T.A.G. collects your application and documents, and funding sources make their own decisions. Initial funding decisions are based primarily on your business's bank-statement cash flow, without a hard credit inquiry before the initial decision. Additional underwriting and credit checks, potentially including a hard inquiry, may occur before final funding.
T.A.G. Business Funding is an independent ISO and broker, not a direct lender. Funding is provided by third-party funding sources and is subject to their underwriting and approval, and nothing on this page is a promise of approval, terms or timing. For the full picture, start with what to know before you apply for business funding.
When your statements are ready, you can start an application whenever it suits you.