How long to keep receipts for HMRC (and which ones you need)

Every business has a drawer, a glovebox or a shoebox where receipts go to fade. The question is how long they have to survive there, and the honest answer is: it depends who you are. HMRC sets different periods for sole traders, limited companies, employers and individuals, and VAT has its own rule on top.

Here is the short version, then the detail.

How long to keep records: the short answer

Where two rules apply to you, the longer one wins. A VAT-registered sole trader keeps VAT records for six years, even though the Self Assessment rule alone would be shorter in some cases.

Sole traders and partners

You must keep your records for at least five years after the 31 January submission deadline for the tax year. GOV.UK's own example: a 2022 to 2023 return, due by 31 January 2024, means keeping the records until at least the end of January 2029. That is closer to six and a half years after the first receipt in the year, which is why "about six years" is a sensible habit for anyone self-employed.

If a return goes in very late, more than four years after the deadline, you keep the records for 15 months after you send it.

The records themselves cover all sales and income, all business expenses, VAT records if registered, and PAYE records if you employ anyone. HMRC lists the kinds of proof it means: receipts for goods and stock, bank statements and chequebook stubs, sales invoices, till rolls and bank slips.

You do not send any of this in with your tax return. You keep it so you can work out your profit, and so you can show HMRC if it asks.

Limited companies

A company must keep records for six years from the end of the last company financial year they relate to. Some records need keeping longer, including where:

• a transaction spans more than one accounting period
• the company bought something expected to last more than six years, such as machinery
• the Company Tax Return went in late
• HMRC has opened a compliance check

The accounting records must show all money received and spent, which in practice means receipts, petty cash books, orders and delivery notes on the spending side. Not keeping them is not a paperwork faux pas: HMRC can fine the company £3,000, or a director can be disqualified.

Employers and their staff expenses

For payroll, an employer keeps PAYE records for three years from the end of the tax year they relate to. That list includes taxable expenses and benefits. Not keeping full records can lead to HMRC estimating what you owe, with a penalty of up to £3,000.

Staff expense claims sit in two worlds at once. They are a PAYE matter where expenses are taxable, but the receipts behind them are also business records of the company, and VAT records if you are registered. So in practice the receipts on an employee's claim follow the company's six-year rule, not the payroll three.

Employees claiming relief

If you are employed and claim tax relief on expenses your employer did not repay, the records still matter. Since 14 October 2024 HMRC asks for evidence before it processes a P87 claim. For hotels and meals that means copies of receipts showing the date and the name of the hotel or restaurant. For professional subscriptions, receipts showing what was paid. For other expenses, a full list plus receipts showing the item and that you paid for it.

If you file a Self Assessment return and are not self-employed, GOV.UK says to keep records for at least 22 months after the end of the tax year, or 15 months after you filed if the return was late.

VAT: six years, and the invoice is the evidence

VAT-registered businesses must generally keep business records for VAT purposes for at least six years. HMRC's view of "business records" is wide: purchase invoices, copy sales invoices, bank statements, till rolls, credit notes and relevant correspondence all count.

For reclaiming VAT, the receipt is not just nice to have. The VAT invoices you receive are the primary evidence for recovering the VAT you paid. What makes a receipt good enough to reclaim on is a topic in itself, covered in what counts as a valid VAT receipt.

Is a photo of a receipt enough?

Often, yes, with a catch. HMRC's VAT record-keeping notice gives two examples that settle it:

• If you type selected details from an invoice into software, you must keep the original, because the typed data is not a copy of the invoice.
• If your software scans the invoice and keeps the image, and the image shows all the detail needed for VAT, you do not need to keep the paper original, unless another rule requires it.

The practical test is legibility. A photo where the date, supplier, VAT number and amounts are readable is a record. A photo of a thermal receipt that had already faded to a pale suggestion is not much of anything, so capture receipts when you get them rather than at year end.

How ClaimSnappy keeps receipts

ClaimSnappy was built so the receipt is captured once, when you get it. You snap it; the image is kept with the expense, and the date, amount and VAT are read from it for you to check.

The app flags the gaps that matter later: a receipt with no photo, VAT with no VAT number for the seller, entertaining with nobody named, or a meal on a day with no travel. Each flag says what is missing and which rule it comes from.

At month end it prepares the claim for you to check and send, with its receipts. If your accountant or bookkeeper needs the records, they export as PDF, CSV, a zip of receipt images, or import files for Xero, QuickBooks Online and Sage 50.

How long you keep your records, and whether they satisfy HMRC, is still your responsibility. ClaimSnappy helps you keep them tidy; it does not decide what HMRC will accept.