Discussion:Are digital copies of receipts acceptable?
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Discussion Forum Index --> Basic Tax Questions --> Are digital copies of receipts acceptable?
Discussion Forum Index --> Tax Questions --> Are digital copies of receipts acceptable?
| 14 May 2008 | |
| New client comes in proud that he didn't bring me a shoebox full of expense receipts for his retail store. Hands me 12 cd's each one representing one month of scanned PDF files of his expense receipts. He threw all the original receipts away - thinking his solution was much better than keeping boxes and boxes of receipts. I about had a heart attack and pratically told him he was crazy and would have dificulty in an audit. I can't find anything that says you can't do this. Does anyone have any opinions or experience with this? | |
| 14 May 2008 | |
| I have actually recommended to clients that they scan their records. In case of an audit, they can provide those same CD's to the auditor, and I understand they are acceptable. My problem would be in preparation, I usually run an adding machine tape and staple all applicable receipts together. Last audit I went to asked for just that. Hard to attach the tape to the PDF files. | |
| 14 May 2008 | |
| I would agree that you should have no problem. In fact with some receipts these days they seem to simply disappear over time. The ink just starts to fade and within a couple years it is gone. This might prevent that issue. | |
Donniecastleman (talk|edits) said: | 15 May 2008 |
| Yep, NeatReceipts is pretty good for stuff like that, I definitely like scanning receipts that disappear over time and they do say that the digital version is acceptable, it cuts down on paper but I would still hold onto receipts for big purchases of course, but the little things you can definitely scan and have in digital format. | |
| 15 May 2008 | |
| This should be a preferred way of keeping receipts, at least some of them. Any time you get a receipt printed with a thermal printer (that prints a million lines in a few seconds), the "imprint" fades over time. So credit card receipts, or some purchases for office supplies may have a blank receipt.
Heat, sunlight, and time are the worst thing for those receipts. | |
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