Do I have to keep copies of paper invoices?

Accounting
1

After scanning and uploading an invoice to QF, do I have to keep the paper document or can I shred it?

What is the actual HMRC practice with regards to keeping paper records?

2

Scanned receipts are acceptable for record keeping compliance, paper can be shredded

1 Like
3

It’s essential however that you can retrieve a document on demand and that they’re secured. QF will obviously meet that criterion but if you scan other documents you’ll have to make separate provision, and of course factor in what you’d do if you changed accounting software.

I’ve been ‘paperless’ for over seven years. I scan everything (not just financial) monthly and keep the paper copies for two years, rotating 24 pockets in my remaining filing drawer and shredding the oldest month. My scanner produces searchable PDF files and MS Windows indexing and search does a superb job, retrieving within seconds from over 20,000 pages in 10,000 documents. They’re backed up in OneDrive and archived to Amazon AWS Glacier annually.

I had a VAT inspection a few years ago and they queried an invoice, asking to see the original, which I demonstrated locating by invoice reference and printed for them within a minute. They were very satisfied.

4

Hello @marekkowalczyk

Just to echo what others have said above, HMRC states:

You can keep VAT records on paper, electronically or as part of a software program (eg book-keeping software). Records must be accurate, complete and readable.

Providing the document is complete (this includes the back of the document if it’s not blank), then this should be acceptable.