How to match bank deposits to invoices as a freelancer

By SoloWOS teamPublished October 24, 2026Updated October 25, 2026

IN SHORT

To match bank deposits to invoices, export your bank transactions as a CSV, keep only the deposits, and pair each one with an open invoice for the same amount. Confirm the pair with the invoice number or the client's name in the description. Partial payments, combined payments and possible duplicates need your decision, so never mark those paid automatically.

Prices and limits as of October 26, 2026.

Key takeaways

Match on amount first, then confirm with the invoice number or the payer's name. Amount alone is a guess when two clients owe the same.
What a deposit description shows depends on the bank and the payment type, so look at a few of your own rows before you trust any rule.
A deposit smaller than the invoice is a partial payment. Don't mark the invoice paid; note what arrived and wait for the rest.
In SoloWOS, a CSV statement is read without AI and doesn't use any allowance; a PDF statement is read with AI and counts toward receipt reads (5 a month on Basic, 300 on Solo).
Nothing is marked paid until you click the button, and the statement file is never saved.

Card payments mark an invoice paid by themselves. ACH transfers, Zelle payments and checks don't: the money lands in your bank and the invoice stays “sent” until you notice. After a few weeks you're no longer sure who paid, reminders go to clients who already paid, and your income report is wrong. Matching deposits once a week fixes all three.

What you need first

Your open invoices with their number, client, amount and issue and due dates.
A transaction export from your business bank account covering at least the period since your oldest open invoice was issued.
Each client's legal or company name as it might appear on a transfer, which isn't always the name you know them by.

Step 1: export the right file

Most banks let you download transactions as CSV from the account's activity page. Choose CSV over PDF when you can: it has clean columns and nothing to misread. Pick a date range from the oldest open invoice's issue date to today. A PDF statement works too, but someone, or something, has to read the table out of it first.

Step 2: keep only the deposits

Some banks give one amount column with negative numbers for money out; others split it into debit and credit columns. Keep the credits. Ignore the running balance column, and skip transfers between your own accounts and refunds from vendors, which are deposits but not client payments.

Step 3: match by amount, then confirm

How sure a match is, and what to do
Evidence in the deposit	Confidence	What to do
Same amount and the invoice number in the memo or reference	High	Mark the invoice paid on the deposit date
Same amount and the client's name or company	High	Mark it paid
Same amount, and only one open invoice has that amount	Medium	Check the client and the dates, then mark it
Same amount, several open invoices with it	Low	Look at due dates and ask the client if needed
Lower amount that names an invoice	Partial payment	Don't mark it paid; note what arrived
Higher amount	Combined or overpaid	Check whether it covers two invoices

Step 4: handle the exceptions

Partial payments. Record what arrived in the invoice's notes and leave it open, or agree with the client to invoice the balance separately.
One transfer for two invoices. Split it by hand: if INV-0018 and INV-0019 add up to the deposit, mark both paid with the same date and reference.
Fees taken out. If a platform or bank kept a fee, the deposit is a little lower than the invoice. Mark the invoice paid and log the fee as an expense.
Possible duplicates. A deposit that matches an invoice you already marked paid may be the client paying twice. Ask before you refund or apply it to the next invoice.
Unknown deposits. If nothing matches, it may be work you forgot to invoice. Create the invoice so your records show the income.

Step 5: mark paid with the deposit date

Use the date the money arrived, not the day you're doing the matching, and keep the bank reference in a note. If you report on a cash basis, that date decides which month and tax year the income belongs to; cash vs accrual accounting explains the difference. The IRS lists bank deposit slips and invoices among the records that support your gross receipts, so keep the statement with your records too.

WORKED EXAMPLE

Worked example: six October deposits (illustrative numbers)

A consultant has eight open invoices and six deposits in October. Four match cleanly: $2,400 with “INV-0041” in the memo, $1,150 from “NORTHWIND LLC” (the client on INV-0039), and two more by name. One deposit of $600 names INV-0044, which is for $1,200, so it's a partial payment and stays open with a note. One $95 deposit matches nothing; it turns out to be a refund from a software vendor and is ignored. Result: four invoices marked paid in ten minutes, one partial noted, and two reminders that would have gone to clients who had paid are stopped.

Doing it in SoloWOS

In Invoicing, click Match bank deposits (it appears once you have invoices).
Drop the CSV export of your account movements (up to 2 MB and 5,000 rows) or the PDF statement (up to 10 MB and 20 pages).
If the columns aren't clear, SoloWOS asks “Which column is which?” with the first rows of the file. US month-first dates are detected.
Review the table. Each deposit shows the suggested invoice and why, for example “Same amount, “INV-0012” in the reference”. Change it, or choose No invoice.
Deposits that don't match show as “Partial payment, not matched”, “Different amount, not matched” or a possible duplicate, with Create invoice and Ignore for the rest.
Click Mark N invoices as paid. Each one is recorded as paid by bank transfer on the deposit's date, and your client doesn't get an email.

SoloWOS only suggests open invoices (sent or viewed) in the same currency, with the same total or within one cent, from the invoice's issue date until 60 days after its due date. Each deposit gets at most one invoice, so combined payments are marked by hand. The statement is read in memory and never saved, not the file and not its movements. A CSV is read without AI. A PDF goes to Anthropic, which returns only the deposits. SoloWOS uses Claude models from Anthropic. Under Anthropic's commercial terms, the data sent for a request isn't used to train their models, and the SoloWOS privacy policy lists what each AI feature sends.

SoloWOS doesn't connect to your bank: you upload the file when you want. To get more payments that mark themselves, send invoices clients pay by card. The SoloWOS AI assistant answers “who still owes me?” once the matching is done, and how to get clients to pay on time covers the reminders.

Questions

Can I mark invoices paid from a bank statement automatically?

You can get suggestions automatically, but the final click should be yours. Two clients can owe the same amount, and a partial payment can look like a full one. In SoloWOS nothing is marked paid until you click Mark N invoices as paid.

What if a client paid two invoices in one transfer?

Check that the two totals add up to the deposit, then mark both paid with the deposit's date and the same bank reference in the note. SoloWOS suggests one invoice per deposit, so it shows this deposit as a different amount and you mark the pair by hand.

Does SoloWOS connect to my bank account?

No. You download a CSV or PDF statement from your bank and upload it when you want to match deposits. SoloWOS reads it in memory and doesn't keep the file or the movements.

How often should a freelancer match deposits?

Weekly works for most people, and always before a round of payment reminders goes out. Matching first stops reminders to clients who already paid by transfer or check.

Sources

Facts checked against these sources on October 24, 2026. Rules and amounts change, so confirm them at the source before you file or sign.

We don't get paid by any brand on this page: no affiliate links, no sponsored placements.

Last reviewed: October 24, 2026

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