Freeagent

[TestMangler]

Asking for my daughter, who's just started a business. She got freeagent with her bank account. I don't use such new fangled ideas, when excel and a box file still works for me :-)

Once she's scanned in receipts and invoices etc, does she still need the originals ??

TIA.

[tazdevil]

I might be out of date but I thought you have to keep original records for 6 years as the revenue could ask for the evidence going back that far and further for fraud investigations. In any case keeping original documents in a box file is little effort and can be a life saver if you lose the digital records.

[ladymuck]

I don't keep the physical copies. I scan, store, and bin.

[hobnob]

In most cases, I don't have physical copies, e.g. my accountants will email me an invoice once a month. I store local copies of all the pdf files (as well as uploading them to FreeAgent), but I don't think there's any need for a shoebox.

[malvolio]

I might be out of date but I thought you have to keep original records for 6 years as the revenue could ask for the evidence going back that far and further for fraud investigations. In any case keeping original documents in a box file is little effort and can be a life saver if you lose the digital records.

You have to be able to provide an audit trail for the company cashflow for six years plus he current one. Electronic copies are fine, and have been for a long time. That implies you have to have it on a technology that can still be read in ten or more year's time, in which case paper seems to be a good option (although till receipts, for one, will have faded away by then!).

[ladymuck]

In most cases, I don't have physical copies, e.g. my accountants will email me an invoice once a month. I store local copies of all the pdf files (as well as uploading them to FreeAgent), but I don't think there's any need for a shoebox.

This is true. Back when I first started out I used to print out all electronic invoices and keep everything in a lever arch file. I kept a paper trail of everything.

When I realised this was wholly unnecessary, I moved to 100% digital. All receipts are scanned and scored on OneDrive, which is backed up to a NAS in my office. As cloud based accounts have evolved, the scanned receipt is also attached to the relevant transaction.

Knowing that many youngsters don't have a filing concept of folders and sub-folders, it is sensible to ensure they understand what good filing looks like so they can easily find all relevant documents in the event of an inspection. Shoeboxes do not lend themselves to efficient recovery and can lead to you revealing more than intended to any HMRC officer...