How long to keep business receipts in the UK

Sole trader receipt retention rules

For sole traders and partnerships, HMRC requires you to keep business records for at least five years after the 31 January submission deadline following the end of the tax year. Because the UK tax year runs from 6 April to 5 April, the standard retention period works out to almost six full years from the date of purchase.

To calculate your required retention date, identify the tax year in which the purchase occurred, find the 31 January deadline for submitting that tax year's Self Assessment return, and add five years to that date. For example, if you bought stationery on 10 June 2023, that expense falls into the 2023/24 tax year. The Self Assessment filing deadline for the 2023/24 tax year is 31 January 2025. Adding five years to 31 January 2025 gives a mandatory retention date of 31 January 2030. You must retain the receipt until that date passes.

If you submit your Self Assessment tax return late, the five-year clock does not start from the standard deadline. Instead, the retention period extends, requiring you to keep all supporting receipts for at least 15 months after the date you actually submit the late return, or until the standard five-year anniversary, whichever is later.

Limited company record keeping requirements

Limited companies operate under a different legal framework governed by company law and Corporation Tax regulations. A limited company must keep all records, including receipts, sales invoices, bank statements, and expense claims, for at least six years from the end of the company accounting period to which they relate.

Unlike sole trader tax years, a limited company accounting period usually matches its financial year, which can end on the last day of any calendar month. If your company financial year ends on 31 December 2023, any receipt dated between 1 January 2023 and 31 December 2023 must be kept until 31 December 2029.

This six-year rule applies to all routine operational expenditure, such as travel, office supplies, software subscriptions, and utility bills. Disposing of company records before the six-year threshold expires can result in financial penalties from HMRC and may lead to formal warnings or director disqualification in serious cases of neglect.

When you must keep receipts longer than six years

While the standard rule for both sole traders and limited companies creates a baseline of six years, several common circumstances force you to hold onto receipts for a longer duration.

When you purchase assets that your business will use over multiple years—such as machinery, vehicles, computer hardware, or commercial property—you must keep the original purchase receipts and related documents for six years after the end of the accounting period in which you sell or dispose of the asset. If you purchase a delivery van in 2024 and use it until 2032 before selling it, the original receipt must be kept until six years after the tax year in which the sale occurred.

Receipts or contracts for long-term agreements, such as equipment leases, premises rent, or multi-year service contracts, must be kept for six years after the overall contract ends, not six years from the initial payment date.

If HMRC opens a compliance check or formal enquiry into your tax return before the standard retention period ends, you must keep all receipts and records relevant to that check until HMRC officially completes the enquiry and issues a formal closure notice. Even if six years have passed, no records relating to an ongoing enquiry may be destroyed.

If you file a return late or if HMRC suspects deliberate tax underpayment or fraud, HMRC can open enquiries reaching back up to twenty years. While you are not expected to retain general expense receipts for twenty years under standard operations, keeping clear digital archives provides crucial protection if past figures are ever queried.

Digital receipt copies and HMRC compliance

HMRC does not require you to hold paper receipts. Legible digital copies—such as PDF documents, high-resolution photographs, or scanned images—are fully acceptable for tax and audit purposes, provided they capture all relevant details clearly.

To satisfy HMRC rules, a digital copy must display key transaction data clearly:

• The name and details of the vendor or supplier
• The transaction date
• A clear breakdown of the goods or services provided
• The total amount paid, including any VAT charged and the VAT registration number where relevant

Once a paper receipt has been accurately captured digitally and stored in a secure location, you may dispose of the physical paper. Because paper receipts printed on thermal paper tend to fade within months, scanning or photographing them immediately ensures the legibility requirement is met throughout the multi-year retention window.

Organising records for easy archiving and deletion

Holding receipts for six years can lead to administrative confusion if files are poorly organised. Creating a consistent structure based on transaction dates allows you to manage old documents without risking the premature deletion of active records.

Organise your digital files by transaction date rather than upload date. Sorting documents into month folders matching the date printed on the receipt ensures your archive directly reflects the accounting period to which each expense belongs. For example, using Docket to send receipt photos or forwarded invoice PDFs via WhatsApp automatically files them into your Google Drive inside month folders based on the document date, allowing you to identify which annual folders have passed their required retention window.

At the start of each new tax year or financial year, audit your storage archive. Locate folders that fall outside the statutory retention period—such as sole trader records older than five years past the relevant 31 January deadline—and confirm that no listed assets or open enquiries remain associated with those years. Once confirmed, you can archive or permanently delete those folders to keep your digital storage manageable and compliant with data protection principles.