Digital receipts and keeping records that hold up
Paper receipts fade, get lost and pile up in shoeboxes, so almost everyone eventually photographs them instead. The reasonable question is whether the photo counts. In most developed tax systems the answer has been yes for years — with conditions about legibility, completeness and how long you keep the file.
A scan is generally as good as the paper
Many tax authorities explicitly accept digital copies of receipts, provided the copy is complete, readable and unaltered. The UK, the US, Australia and much of the EU all allow scanned or photographed records in place of originals for most purposes. The conditions are consistent: the whole document must be captured including the edges, it must be legible, and you must be able to produce it on request. Cropping the total off the bottom is the failure mode, not the file format.
How long to keep them
The retention period is set by your tax authority and it varies: commonly five years in Australia, six in the UK, and three to seven in the US depending on the situation. Turkey requires five years for most commercial books and documents. If a purchase relates to an asset you still own — a machine, a vehicle, a property improvement — keep the receipt for as long as you own the thing plus the retention period, because it establishes the cost base when you eventually sell.
Digitising without creating a mess
A folder of ten thousand files named IMG_4821 is not a record system. Name each file with the date, the seller and the amount, in that order, so a sort by filename is a sort by date. Keep the files somewhere that is backed up in two places, not just the phone that took the photo. And capture at the moment of purchase rather than in a monthly catch-up session — the receipts that go missing are the ones that waited.
Frequently asked questions
Can I throw away the paper after scanning?
In most jurisdictions yes, for ordinary purchases, once you have a complete and legible copy stored safely. There are exceptions for certain documents and certain regulated industries. If a receipt supports something unusual or high-value, keep the paper until the retention period ends.
Does an emailed receipt count?
Yes. An email receipt from the seller is an original record, not a copy. Archive the email itself rather than a screenshot of it, since the message carries the sender and timestamp that make it verifiable.
What about receipts I generate myself?
A receipt you produce for your own records is a record, not evidence of a third party's sale. It is fine for tracking, reconstructing a lost document for your own books, mock-ups and design work — but it does not replace a document issued by the actual seller, and presenting one as though it were is fraud in every jurisdiction.
Make one now. Type an order, watch it print line by line, download the PNG. Free, in your browser, nothing uploaded.
Open BNJ Receipt