How to keep bank statements

What is it for?

When you import the bank's file, Odoo keeps it automatically for 10 years and prevents it from being deleted or changed. You do not have to do anything for this to start. This article shows how to check that the file is kept, until when, and how to download it again, for example during an inspection.

Statements are supporting documents for the accounts. The Corporate Income Tax Code (CIRC) requires them to be kept for 10 years (CIRC, art. 123). Pending validation by a certified accountant.

When to use it?

• When the accountant or an inspector asks for the original statement of a month.
• When you want to check until when a file is kept.
• When you imported the wrong file and want to know what to do.
• Do not use it for statements you only have on paper or as PDF, without having imported them: what is kept here is the imported file. Keep the others in the digital archive.

Where to find it?

• Accounting › Reconcile › Banks and cash › What is there to do with the banks? › Supporting lists › Import history: one line per imported file.
• Accounting › Reconcile › Banks and cash › Bank statements: one line per statement, with the file attached on the form.

Before you start

• Your profile is Accountant. The Auditor also sees these menus.
• The statement has been imported. See how to import the bank statement.

How to use it

1. Open Accounting › Reconcile › Banks and cash › What is there to do with the banks?. In Supporting lists, click Import history.
2. Open the file's line, for example extrato_banco_2026-10-31.xml.
3. Check the date in Keep until. It is 10 years from the day you imported the file, not from the statement date. In the example, a statement of 31/10/2026 imported on 05/11/2026 is kept until 05/11/2036.
4. To get the original file, click Download file.
5. To go to the statement, click Statements and open the line. On the statement form, the file appears as an attachment with the same date.

Expected result

The Import history has one line per file, and each record shows the file and the Keep until date. This procedure only views: it creates no journal entries.

Important notes

• The list only sees what was imported. A statement that was never imported does not appear here, so a complete list does not prove that every month's statements are kept. Check the months.
• The record of each import can never be edited or deleted, even if the file was wrong.
• The imported file cannot be removed from the statement form either. The remove icon takes the line off the screen, but when you save, the change is refused.
• After the Keep until date, only the Fiscal administration profile can delete the statement's attachment. The import record's file is never deleted. Pending on-screen validation: the demonstration has no files more than 10 years old.

Common problems

When deleting a statement: “The file extrato_banco_2026-10-31.xml is a bank statement kept as a supporting document until 05/11/2036 (legal retention of 10 years, CIRC art. 123.º) and cannot be deleted. The statement it belongs to cannot be deleted either.” The refusal is intentional and protects the evidence. Click Close. There is nothing to correct.

When saving the statement form: “The file extrato_banco_2026-10-31.xml cannot be removed from the statement. Porquê: É o documento de suporte do extrato, conservado até 05/11/2036 (conservação legal de 10 anos, CIRC art. 123.º): tirá-lo da lista escondê-lo-ia, embora o ficheiro continue guardado. Como resolver: Mantenha o ficheiro no extrato. Se for o ficheiro errado, junte também o correto.” (it is the statement's supporting document, kept until 05/11/2036; removing it from the list would hide it, although the file stays stored; keep the file on the statement, and if it is the wrong file, attach the correct one as well). Click Close and discard the change. The line comes back to the form.

I imported the wrong file. Do not try to delete it: import the right file. The record of the wrong file stays, as evidence of what happened. If the wrong file created a statement with movements that do not exist, talk to the certified accountant before reconciling those movements.

When importing a file again: “This file was already imported into this journal on 05/11/2026 10:36:06 by profile (extrato_banco_2026-10-31.xml (Banco)): importing it again is refused unless you tick "Import anyway" and write the justification.” The file is already kept and you do not need to import it again. Open the Import history to download it.

The statement form does not show the attachment. The statement did not come from a file. Look for the file in the Import history. If the statement came from a file, the line is there.