Guide – Business Bank Statements For Your Schengen Visa

What Are The Business Bank Statements For Your Schengen VisaApplication?

A ‘Business Bank Statement’ is the summary of the transactions (e.g. charges, withdrawals, etc.) in your business bank account. 

For most Embassies and Consulates, submitting your business bank statements for at least 3 months is a mandatory requirement if you own a company in your country of residence (however, we recommend that you submit your bank statements for the last 6 months).  

As a business owner, you should separate your business and personal finances by holding two different bank accounts: one under your name and one under your company’s name. 

Sometimes, small business owners do not hold separate accounts for business and personal expenses. If this is applicable to your situation, you can simply submit your personal bank accounts showing all of your business and personal transactions. 

However, if you run a company, your business bank statements are an important Schengen Visa Requirement as they can add value to your Visa application and increase your chances of approval. 

As a business owner, holding a business bank account is important not only for your Visa application but also for other purposes (e.g., you can use them as supporting documents for your company tax return, apply for a business loan, create a business budget, etc.).

Most of the time, a bank statement covers a month. At the end of each month (or the statement period set by the bank) you will receive the paper or electronic copy of your account statement showing all of the transactions related to your account.

Please note that if you own a company in your country of residence you must submit both your business bank statements and personal bank statements (meaning that you cannot submit just the bank statements corresponding to the account under your business name without submitting the bank statements corresponding to the account under your name). 

Important: As a business owner, you are allowed to submit the business bank statements corresponding to a joint account you hold together with a business partner, but you should attach a joint account approval letter to your application.

The joint account approval letter is not a mandatory required document but we strongly recommend you submit it. 

For further details, please check out our Guide – Joint Account Approval Letter.  

The Importance Of The Business Bank Statements For Your Visa Application

Your business bank statements are extremely important for your application because they show additional evidence that the information you provided about your company is reliable and you are a trustworthy applicant. 

Consider that the Visa officers must have strong proof that you intend to return from the Schengen State you will be visiting. 

Also, they must ensure that you have enough financial resources to cover your expenses during your trip to the Schengen Area and you won’t be a burden for the Member State you will be travelling to. 

As a business owner, you can fulfill these two conditions if you run a legal business that generates sufficient revenue so that you can afford to pay yourself and have business growth opportunities. 

Otherwise, the Visa officers may believe that you have reasons to remain in a European country illegally. 

Therefore, your business bank statements will prove that:

Important: If your bank statements prove that you do not get enough money to cover your expenses for your trip to the Schengen Territory, you should consider getting a sponsorship invitation letter (for more details, please visit this link). 

Note: Your business bank statements are important whether you are applying for a Schengen Tourist Visa, a Business Schengen Visa, or another type of short stay Visa (because any Visa holder must have enough means of subsistence during their stay in a Schengen country). 

How To Get Business Bank Statements From Your Bank For Your Schengen Visa Application

The steps you must follow to get your business bank statements are the same that you must follow to get your personal bank statements.

If you have any doubts concerning this procedure, please check our Guide – Bank Statements for Your Schengen Visa Application (the section called ‘How To Get Bank Statements From Your Bank For Your Schengen VisaApplication’).

As a general rule, there are two ways you can access your bank statements depending on the rules and policies of your bank:

  1. Getting your bank statements online (the most common procedure)

You have to log in to your account created through the bank’s net banking portal and download your bank statements as PDF files. 

Then, you can print them off and submit them along with your other documents.

  1. Getting your bank statements offline 

If your bank does not allow you to download your bank statements, you have to visit your branch and request them at the counter. 

Most of the time, bank statements are valid without the signature and the stamp of the bank.

However, if you want to provide additional proof that your bank statements are authentic, you can also ask one of your bank’s representatives to sign and stamp them before you submit them to the Embassy, Consulate, or Visa Application Centre. 

Important– When you get your business bank statements, please make sure that:

Common Mistakes To Avoid When Submitting Your Business Bank Statements For Your Schengen Visa

If you’re a business owner, your business bank statements can be as important as your personal bank statements. 

So, you should avoid making some mistakes that may cause the delay of rejection of your Visa processing. 

● Submitting the statements related to a business payroll account (or another type of business account that does not show all of your business transactions)

A payroll account is a business account that is strictly used for payroll. 

Also, some banks allow you to open different business accounts with different purposes (e.g. business savings account, Certificate of Deposit account that offers higher interest rates than the accounts associated with regular savings, etc.). 

The Embassy officers should be able to see all of your business transactions before granting you a Visa and allowing you to travel to the Schengen Zone. 

If you hold more business bank accounts, you should submit the bank statements corresponding to each one of them.

● Submitting bank certificates instead of bank statements 

Bank certificates do not contain a summary of the transactions related to your account. They are documents signed by a bank official stating that you have an account with a specific branch. 

They can also show how much money you have in the account on a specific date. 

However, the Visa officers want to see the history of your business transactions and check if they show consistency with the other business documents you are submitting and therefore they won’t accept bank certificates instead of bank statements.

The same rule is valid for your summary account. This is a one-page additional document that some banks issue to show the balance available in an account on a specific date but without the details concerning the transactions. 

If your bank can issue a certificate showing the summary of your account, you must not submit it for your Visa application (you must submit instead your complete and detailed bank statements for the last 6 months). 

● Submitting bank statements that prove you spend more than you earn on your business

Your bank statements should prove to the Embassy/Consulate officers that your company generates enough revenue to give you growth opportunities. 

A company that generates profit proves that a Visa applicant has good reasons to return to their country of residence and they can afford to regularly pay their own salary and cover all of the expenses for their trip. 

In an ideal scenario, your business bank statements should show a positive cash balance and frequent deposits that indicate your business is operating profitably. 

Your bank statements must not show that you have too many debts or overdraft fees (fees that are charged when you don’t have enough money in your account to cover a payment and the bank covers the difference for you). 

● The information on your business bank statements do not match the information in your company tax return

The information on these documents should match so that the Embassy officers can be sure that all of your business documents are depicting correct amounts.

If possible, we recommend you submit your bank reconciliation statements as well.

Bank reconciliation statements are documents that compare the cash balance on a company’s balance sheet to the amount on the bank statements. Their main purpose is to thwart fraud. 

However, submitting bank reconciliation statements is not mandatory. 

If for any reason the information on your business bank statements does not match the information in your company tax return this should not necessarily lead to the rejection of your Schengen Visa. Most of the time, it depends on how big the difference is (we have already explained this in our Company Tax Return Guide).

For example, if your business bank statements and your company tax return show that you are misreporting a small amount of money, this is not the ideal situation but it may not result in the rejection of your visitor Visa (as long as you prove that your intentions to return to your country of residence are genuine). 

On the other hand, if these documents show that you are misreporting a high amount of money, this might jeopardise your application. As a general rule, remember that all of your documents should show consistent information (meaning that the information on your bank statements must match the information on your other documents, such as your Visa application form, flight itinerary, hotel booking, passport, etc. – e.g., your full name on your bank statements must match your name on your other documents).