Can a bank statement be submitted as a proof of investment?
Probably not. A debit of 50K in your Bank statement does not mean that its invested into tax saving instrument. This question is best answered by the finance department of your company. Practise vary from organization to organization.
Banks in certain countries are offering such facility. However I am not aware of any Bank in Hungary offering this. So apart from maintaining a higher amount in HUF, there by reducing the costs [and taking the volatility risks]; there aren't many options. Yes, an investment can be made in a company before IPO. The valuation process is similar as that done for arriving at IPO or for a normal listed company. The difference may be the premium perceived for the idea in question. This would differ from one investor to other. For example, whether Facebook will be able to grow at the rate and generate enough revenues and win against competition is all a mathematical model based on projections. There are quite a few times the projection would go wrong, and quite a few times it would go correct. An individual investor cannot generally borrow from banks to invest into a company (listed or otherwise) (or for any other purpose) if he does not have any collateral that can be kept as security by the bank. An individual can get a loan only if he has sufficient collateral. The exceptions being small personal loans depending on one's credit history. The Private Equity placement arm of banks or firms in the business of private equity invest in start-up and most of the time make an educated guess based on their experience. More than half of their investments into start-ups end up as wiped out. An occasional one or two companies are ones that they make a windfall gain on. There's a bit of truth to that, except in reality when you ask for business loan the bank most definitely looks at the background of the owners (assuming it's a small business).  You might have some luck fooling investors as a way to get some capital, but that's doubtful as well if you have a history of starting companies that later fail. No, it would not show up on the income statement as it isn't income. It would show up in the cash flow statement as a result of financing activities. You are not missing something basic.  Putting money in the bank will cost you in terms of purchasing power.  The same thing has been true in the US and other places for a long time now.  The real interest rate is negative--there is too much aggregate wealth being saved compared to the number of profitable lending opportunities.  That means any truly risk-free investment will not make as much money as you will lose to inflation.   If the real interest rate appears to be positive in your home country it means one of the following is happening: Capital controls or other barriers are preventing foreigners from investing in your home country, keeping the interest rate there artificially high Expected inflation is not being measured very accurately in your home country Inflation is variable and unpredictable in your home country, so investors are demanding high interest rates to compensate for inflation risk.  In other words, bank accounts are not risk-free in your home country. If you find any securities that are beating inflation, you can bet they are taking on risk.  Investing in risky securities is fine, but just understand that it's not a substitute for a risk-free bank account.  Part of every interest rate is compensation for the time-value-of-money and the rest is compensation for risk.  At present, the global time-value-of-money is negative. Every listed company needs to maintain book of accounts, when you are investing in companies you would have to look at what is stated in the books and along with other info decide to invest in it. The business and investment would be shown on separate parts of the tax return. (An exception to this is where an investment is related and part of your business, such as futures trading on business products)  On the business side of it, you would show the transfer to the stocks as a draw from the business, the amount transferred would then be the cost base of the investment.  For taxes, you only have to report gains or losses on investments. A bank is putting money on the line for you when they loan you money, which is not something they have to do. Not telling them what you intend to do with the money they are giving you, when asked, is fraud, which if you are caught will put you into very deep trouble. It means one has to provide documents to estabilsh the source of funds. This is to detect any money laundering. For example an salaried individual suddenly transacting for 1 Million, the bank would ask for proof of funds.    Its possible that the individual has his own funds because of inheretance or a handsome bonus received etc or a it could be he is helping route some illegal money that is not his. There are regulations that state for what kind of transaction Proof of Funds are required. Update: it looks like this may no longer be a requirement.  I was able to withdraw from TreasuryDirect into another bank account without issue. Funds earned and spent before opening a dedicated business account should be classified according to their origination. For example, if your business received income, where did that money go?  If you took the money personally, it would be considered either a 'distribution' or a 'loan' to you.  It is up to you which of the two options you choose. On the flip side, if your business had an expense that you paid personally, that would be considered either a 'contribution of capital' or a 'loan' from you. If you choose to record these transactions as loans, you can offset them together, so you don't need two separate accounts, loan to you and loan from you. When the bank account was opened, the initial deposit came from where?  If it came from your personal funds, then it is either a 'contribution of capital' or a 'loan' from you. From the sound of your question, you deposited what remained after the preceding income/expenses.  This would, in effect, return the 'loan' account back to zero, if choosing that route. The above would also be how to record any expenses you may pay personally for the business (if any) in the future. Because these transactions were not through a dedicated business bank account, you can't record them in Quickbooks as checks and deposits.  Instead, you can use Journal Entries.  For any income received, you would debit your capital/loan account and credit your income account.  For any expenses, you would debit the appropriate expense account and credit your distribution/loan account. Also, if setting up a loan account, you should choose either Current Asset or Current Liability type.  The capital contribution and distribution account should be Equity type. Hope this helps! I quit diligently reconciling monthly statements some years before everything was online, when I realized that for years before that, every time I thought I found a mistake, it was always my own error. I was spending a fair amount of time (over the years) doing something that wasn't helping me. So I quit. That said, I do look at the statements and/or check the transactions on a regular basis (I now use email notifications of automatic deposits as the trigger, and then look over withdrawals, too) to make sure everything looks appropriate. I'm less concerned about a bank error than I am about identity or account theft. It is possible, i've contacted different banks, and only one bank (Wells Fargo) didn't say that they need all members in person, but gave me a form which my colleague filled to authorize me to open an account. You could classify the mortgage as a different assets class and then create automated additions and deductions to the account as deems fit. other than that quickbooks online is a bit fishy so it seems. You're trying to mitigate the risk of having your investments wiped out by fraud committed by your broker by using margin loans to buy stock secured by other, non-cash assets in your account. The solution that you are proposing does not make any sense at all. You mitigate a very low probability/high impact risk by doing something that comes with a high probability/medium impact risk.  In addition to interest costs, holding stocks on margin subjects you to the very real risk of being forced to sell assets at inopportune times to meet margin calls. Given the volatility that the markets are experiencing in 2011, there is a high risk that some irrational decision in Greece could wipe you out. If I were worried about this, I would: If you have enough money that SIPC protection limits are an issue, you desperately need a financial adviser. Do not implement any strategy involving margin loans until you talk to a qualified adviser.