The rule of thumb: if it explains a number on your return, keep it. The hard part is not knowing that — it is having it somewhere you can find.
5 September 2026 · 5 min read
Record-keeping is the bit of self-employment nobody teaches you, and it only ever becomes urgent at the worst possible moment — the week before a return is due, or the day a letter arrives asking about a figure from two years ago. Getting it boring and automatic is the whole game.
Broadly: what came in, what went out, and the evidence for both. That means sales invoices you issued, receipts and invoices for what you bought, records of business mileage, bank statements, and anything explaining the unusual — a written-off debt, a part-personal purchase, a deposit taken in one tax year for work done in another. Quotes and job notes are not strictly accounts, but they are what settle disputes.
There are minimum retention periods, and they differ depending on whether you are a sole trader or run a limited company, and whether the return was filed late. Rather than working off a figure you half-remember from a forum, check the current guidance on gov.uk — and when in doubt, keep it. Storage is cheap and arguments are not.
You do not have to keep a shoebox of curling thermal paper. A clear photograph of a receipt, stored with the merchant, date, total and VAT, is an acceptable record — and a far more reliable one than paper that fades in a hot van. For anything substantial, keeping the original until that year’s return is filed costs nothing.
The direction of travel for income tax and VAT is digital record-keeping with regular updates rather than one annual scramble, phased in by income level over the next few years. The detail and the timings are on gov.uk and worth a conversation with your accountant about when it touches you. Making Tax Digital for sole traders has the practical version.
The best record-keeping system is the one you use on the day, not the one you intend to use at the weekend. Photograph the receipt at the counter, log the miles in the van, raise the invoice before you drive off. GraftG exists for exactly this — you text it as you go and it stores the structured record behind the scenes, so a year’s worth of evidence accumulates without a filing session. See receipts and the accountant pack.
When your accountant asks for “everything”, the answer should be one export, not a text conversation lasting three weeks. Whatever you use, make sure you can produce income, expenses, mileage and CIS for a given period without reconstructing anything. That single capability is what turns January from a fortnight into an afternoon.
Digital copies are generally acceptable provided they are clear and complete, which is why photographing receipts the day you get them beats keeping thermal paper that fades. For high-value purchases it is still sensible to keep the original until that year’s return is filed.
There are minimum retention periods and they vary with your business structure and circumstances, so check the current guidance on gov.uk rather than a rule of thumb. Where you are unsure, keeping records for longer is the safer option.
Bank statements, mileage records, and anything that explains an unusual figure — a bad debt, a part-personal purchase, or a deposit that straddles two tax years. Quotes and job notes are worth keeping too, because they are what resolve customer disputes.
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