Bank accounts

Connecting your bank account to Lodg is the easiest way to keep your income and expenses up to date. Once connected, your transactions are imported automatically — saving you from manual data entry and giving Lodg everything it needs to file your tax return accurately.

Before you start

Make sure you have:

• Your Lodg account set up and your profile completed
• Online banking access for the bank account you want to connect
• A few minutes — the setup process is quick

How to connect your bank account

1. Log in to your Lodg account at lodg.co.nz
2. Go to Settings / Connect Bank in the main menu
3. Click Connect a bank account
4. Select your bank from the list
5. You'll be redirected to your bank's secure login page — sign in with your online banking credentials
6. Select the account you want to connect (e.g. your everyday or business account)
7. Authorise Lodg to access your transaction data
8. You'll be redirected back to Lodg — your account is now connected

Once connected, Lodg will begin importing your transactions. Future transactions will appear automatically in your Lodg dashboard.

How transactions are categorised

After your bank account is connected, Lodg uses AI-assisted categorisation to identify and label your transactions:

• Income transactions are matched to your business revenue
• Expenses are automatically categorised where possible (e.g. software subscriptions, fuel, supplies)
• You can review and adjust any categorisation from the Expenses or Transactions tab
• Uncategorised transactions are flagged for your review

The more you use Lodg, the smarter the categorisation becomes — the system learns your spending patterns over time.

Manual vs automatic claiming

Transactions imported from your bank can be claimed in two ways:

• Automatic claiming — Lodg's AI identifies likely business expenses and flags them for claiming automatically, based on the transaction details and your profile
• Manual claiming — you review your transactions and mark specific items as business expenses yourself

You can use a combination of both. We recommend reviewing your transactions regularly — even auto-categorised items benefit from a quick check to make sure everything looks right.

Can I connect more than one account?

Yes. If you have separate accounts for business and personal use, you can connect multiple accounts. We recommend connecting your primary business account first, then adding any others.

Having trouble connecting?

If your bank doesn't appear in the list, or the connection isn't completing:

• Check that your online banking is active and not locked
• Try a different browser or clear your browser cache
• Contact Lodg support via help.lodg.co.nz