Receipts

[Smackdown]

Yes mate, keep your receipts. If you are VAT reg'd you will need the actual receipts to claim the VAT back and if you have an investigation of any kind they won't go deeper if your records are slick.

I'm on the flat rate scheme so hopefully it doesn't have an impact on that front.

I'll have to have a chat with an accountant on how this impacts allowable business expenses / need to pay the money back via my personal account =( glad I stumbled across this thread either way. Got an envelope packed for Monday to start collecting those train tickets! Cheers.

[administrator]

Yes mate, keep your receipts. If you are VAT reg'd you will need the actual receipts to claim the VAT back and if you have an investigation of any kind they won't go deeper if your records are slick.

[Smackdown]

Are receipts actually necessary? I use a business debit card for all purchases and it's pretty obvious what I've been spending money on??

Starting to sweat it a bit. I've only done my first month so I'm not in the tulip as much as I could be if I really have to have physical copies.

I'll take an envelope in my bag henceforth to stick them in

[Lance]

FTFY

maybe.
Till I lose a hard drive (5% a year chance) and then get investigated. Small risk but very little effort to mitigate. And seeing is it's what I do for my clients (reduce risks) I'd be a bit of a tit to not do it myself don't you think?

[SteelyDan]

I photo them, put them in Freegant and shove the paper ones in a box.
Electronic ones are all backed up and on Onedrive.

really OTT

FTFY

[Lance]

Are scanned copies of receipts sufficient for record keeping relating to expenses, or should the physical copies be retained as well?

Thanks!

PS. I have not asked my accountant!

I photo them, put them in Freegant and shove the paper ones in a box.
Electronic ones are all backed up and on Onedrive.

belt and braces

[barrydidit]

The upside of physical receipts is that they degrade over time, making it difficult to see what the purchase was for...

#justsayin'

New ones can be degraded in 5 minutes by leaving them on a heated leather car seat

[ladymuck]

The upside of physical receipts is that they degrade over time, making it difficult to see what the purchase was for...

#justsayin'

[Jim Spector]

Thanks, accountants!

Stand down NLUK.

[Patrick@Intouch]

I'll get in before everyone tells you to ask your accountant then!

Scanned copies are fine, speaking practically though it may be an idea to keep these in a couple of locations.

Maybe a hard disk and cloud based.

[Kenny@MyAccountantFriend]

Scanned copies are sufficient so long as you can read all of the amounts dates and VAT registration numbers if applicable.

[Jim Spector]

Are scanned copies of receipts sufficient for record keeping relating to expenses, or should the physical copies be retained as well?

Thanks!

PS. I have not asked my accountant!