Bank rules

Bank rules automatically categorize your expenses and imported bank transactions according to criteria you define. You define the rule once and Frihet applies it to matching transactions.

Go to Settings → Bank rules.

Prerequisites and when to use a bank rule

Before creating automatic rules inside your bank reconciliation workflow, keep the following in mind:

• Bank account and prior statement: Have at least one imported batch or know the recurring concept strings that appear on your bank statement (see Bank connections and statement import).
• Bank rules (categorized) vs. Invoice reconciliation (matched):
  • Use Bank rules for recurring charges without an individual invoice or with a fixed statement pattern: account maintenance fees (-12,50 €), SaaS subscriptions (GOOGLE, AWS), utilities, or insurance. The rule assigns an accounting category, tax rate, and deductibility, moving the transaction to Categorized (categorized).
  • Use Bank reconciliation (Finance → Banking → Transactions) when the movement settles an issued invoice (for example, the 1.815,00 € transfer from Estudio Norte S.L. for invoice F-2026-0001) or a recorded supplier bill with its document number, so it transitions to Reconciled (matched) and updates the document's open balance.

Verifiable synthetic fixture (does not represent a live bank transfer)

The details for Estudio Norte S.L. (tax ID B12345674, email facturacion@example.com, invoice F-2026-0001) and the statement entries cited in this guide are a synthetic documentation fixture. Tax ID B12345674 only passes algorithmic check-digit validation (it does not prove non-existence or ownership in the AEAT census) and example.com is an IANA-reserved domain (RFC 6761). Bank rules classify ledger entries inside your Frihet account and never execute real bank transfers.

How they work

Each rule has:

1. Conditions: when it applies (vendor, description, amount or reference).
2. Actions: what Frihet assigns when they are met (category, tax rate, deductible, notes, tags).

Frihet evaluates rules in priority order. With All logic every condition must be met; with Any, one is enough.

Example:

Rule: "Google"
  Condition: Description contains "GOOGLE"
  Action: Category → Software

Create a rule

1. Go to Settings → Bank rules.
2. Click Create Rule (or Create first rule if you have none yet).
3. Enter a Rule name, add conditions and choose the actions.
4. Save.

While you define the conditions, Frihet shows how many of your existing expenses the rule would match. Conditions and actions are detailed in Bank rule builder.

Verifiable example: rule for bank fees and recurring charges

In the synthetic statement imported in the previous step, row 2026-10-18 records the charge COMISION MANTENIMIENTO CUENTA OCT for -12,50 € with reference COM-202610-01. To avoid classifying this fee manually every month:

1. Open Settings → Bank rules and click Create Rule.
2. Configure the rule with these verifiable values:

Field	Configured value
Rule name	Comisiones bancarias mensuales
Condition logic	All (AND)
Condition 1	Description → Contains → COMISION MANTENIMIENTO
Condition 2	Amount → Less than → 0 (outflows/charges only)
Action: Category	Servicios bancarios y financieros
Action: Tax rate	Exempt / 0% (financial fees exempt from VAT)
Action: Deductible	Yes (deductible expense for corporate / income tax)
Action: Tag	comision-banco
Auto-apply	Enabled (true)

3. Save the rule. Whenever you import the next CSV/OFX/MT940/CAMT.053 statement (or apply the rule to pending movements under Finance → Banking → Transactions), any charge whose description contains COMISION MANTENIMIENTO automatically transitions from pending to Categorized (categorized) and flows directly into Reports → Expenses (/reports/expenses).

API and MCP automation

If you manage rules through integrations or AI agents, you can list and create rules using the MCP tools frihet_bank_rules_list and frihet_bank_rule_create (and categorize individual transactions via PATCH /v1/banking/transactions/{transactionId}/categorize in the REST API):

{
  "name": "Comisiones bancarias mensuales",
  "matchMode": "all",
  "conditions": [
    { "field": "description", "operator": "contains", "value": "COMISION MANTENIMIENTO" },
    { "field": "amount", "operator": "lt", "value": 0 }
  ],
  "actions": {
    "category": "Servicios bancarios y financieros",
    "taxRate": 0,
    "deductible": true,
    "tags": ["comision-banco"]
  },
  "autoApply": true
}

Priority order

Change a rule's order with Move up and Move down. Put more specific rules before generic ones: a "GOOGLE ADS" rule must come before a general "GOOGLE" rule.

Suggested rules

Frihet analyzes your expenses and proposes rules under Suggested Rules. Click Accept to create the proposed rule, or click Dismiss to discard it.

Enable, disable and auto-apply

Each rule can be enabled or disabled without deleting it; a disabled rule stops applying until you re-enable it. The Auto-apply option applies the rule when importing transactions.

To remove a rule entirely, use Delete Rule.

Real limits of bank rules

• First-match by priority: When a transaction satisfies multiple active rules, Frihet applies the highest-priority rule in the list and stops evaluating lower-priority rules to prevent conflicting overwrites.
• Rules do not replace document-level invoice matching (matched): A bank rule assigns accounting metadata (categorized), but it does not mark a specific issued invoice as paid or create a collection record in Reports → Payments. Customer collections such as invoice F-2026-0001 (1.815,00 € / 1.590,00 € / 907,50 €) must be linked from Bank reconciliation or via match_transaction_to_invoice.
• No retroactive changes to closed periods or reconciled movements: Disabling or deleting a rule does not undo the categorization of past transactions or alter closed fiscal periods.
• Next step in the walkthrough: Once recurring fees are categorized and statement invoices are reconciled, verify the final impact in the Reports center.

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