QuickBooks IIF or QBO import error: transactions don't balance, wrong format
Last reviewed 2026-09-19
IIF files are tab-separated text where each row must match a header row, and every transaction must end with ENDTRNS and balance to zero. QBO and OFX files are XML-like text with required fields. Files created by hand or by other software often break one of those rules.
Messages you might see
- “Import failed: the IIF file has an invalid format”
- “Transaction does not balance”
- “The QBO/OFX file could not be read”
Why it happens
- Rows with a different number of columns than their header.
- Dates or amounts in a format QuickBooks doesn't accept.
- A transaction missing ENDTRNS, or splits that don't add up to zero.
- In QBO, unclosed tags, unescaped ampersands or repeated transaction ids.
Try this first (free, no tool needed)
- Import a very small part of the file first to find the row that fails.
- Check that each transaction's lines sum to zero.
- Make sure the file is saved as plain text with tab separators, without extra quoting.
If that didn't work
These tools run in your browser. Your file is read and repaired on your own device and is never uploaded.
QuickBooks Export Repair
IIF: fixes rows that don't match their header, dates and amounts in the wrong format and transactions missing ENDTRNS, and reports transactions that don't balance. QBO/OFX: closes unclosed tags, escapes & in payee names, fixes amounts and dates, adds missing TRNTYPE/FITID and makes repeated FITIDs unique. It reports unbalanced transactions but does not decide which side is wrong.
Open QuickBooks Export RepairCommon questions
Does it fix unbalanced transactions?
It reports them. Which amount is wrong is an accounting decision it does not guess.
Is my file uploaded anywhere?
No. The tool runs as a program inside your own browser, so the file is read and repaired on your device and never sent to a server.