Plan before changing software: If your business still relies on QuickBooks Desktop for statement imports and transaction records, check Intuit’s current support notice, make verified backups and confirm the destination product’s migration process.
What a Product Sunset Means for a Sole Trader
If your business records live in desktop software, a product sunset may affect support, connected services and future compatibility. Preserve complete exports and source statements before making any change.
Check the current Intuit notice for:
- Your edition and region: support dates and available services can differ
- Connected services: confirm the current position for updates, bank feeds and other integrations
- Export access: create and test complete backups before relying on a migration path
Your Migration Options
You have three common paths, depending on your own business needs:
Option 1: Migrate to QuickBooks Online
Review Intuit’s current QuickBooks Online migration and import documentation for your Desktop edition. Before committing, verify:
- which records and attachments the supported migration process carries across
- the current bank-feed history and consent rules for your institution
- the current file formats and column layouts accepted for historical transactions
Option 2: Switch to Xero
A sole trader may decide to move to Xero. Check Xero’s current conversion, import and bank-feed documentation before choosing this route. A careful migration involves:
- Exporting data from QB Desktop (trial balance, chart of accounts, transactions)
- confirming which records the current conversion process accepts
- checking the available bank-feed history for your institution
- adapting reviewed historical records to the currently accepted import format
Option 3: Switch to Sage or FreeAgent
If you are considering Sage or FreeAgent, review each provider’s current product scope, migration process, accepted import formats and bank-feed coverage. Test a representative export before moving the complete record set.
BankScan’s scope: the £3.99/month plan is for one UK sole trader or owner-operated small business that keeps its own GBP cash-basis sole-trader records. It can prepare working files from supported statements but is not a full software-migration service.
The Bank Statement Problem During Migration
Migrating accounting software means re-importing historical transactions. Even if you export your QB Desktop data, you may need to re-import individual bank statements for:
- Clean-slate migrations: You may choose to import a verified period of bank statements rather than rely only on a bulk data export.
- Partial-year history: Earlier statements may be needed when the new software starts part way through a tax year.
- More than one account: Each business account needs its own complete, checked import.
For each business account, download the required PDFs, convert them to Excel or CSV, verify them against the sources and import them into the new software without overlapping dates.
Protect access before changing systems. Check the support date for your edition, preserve verified exports and source statements, and test the new platform while you can still compare both record sets.
Step-by-Step: Import Historical Bank Statements to Your New Platform
- Download the required historical business statements from your online banking
- Prepare a reviewable working file from a supported statement, then check every date, description and amount against the source
- Review and import into your new accounting platform (QBO, Xero, Sage, or FreeAgent)
- Set up the live bank feed for transactions going forward
Convert Your Own Business Statements
Try AI-assisted scanning and simple GBP cash-basis books in the £3.99/month Sole Trader plan. Bank or HMRC journeys appear only when live and available.
Start 7-day trial →Vendor support, migration and import terms can change; verify them with the provider. QuickBooks and QuickBooks Desktop are trademarks of Intuit Inc. This page is an independent guide — we are not affiliated with Intuit.