Every tax authority on earth agrees on the principle — keep records that prove your filings — and disagrees on the number of years. Here are the retention rules for the jurisdictions we're asked about most, from the authorities' own guidance. One habit satisfies all of them: keep every source document, organized, and keep books that agree with the bank.
The baseline is three years from the date you filed or the return's due date, whichever is later — that mirrors the standard audit window. Four situations extend it: employment tax records must be kept at least four years; if you omit more than 25% of gross income the window becomes six years; a bad-debt or worthless-securities claim requires seven years; and an unfiled or fraudulent return has no time limit at all. Records for assets (equipment, vehicles, property) should be kept as long as you own the asset plus the limitation period, since depreciation lives on your returns for years.
Limited companies: six years from the end of the financial year the records relate to. Sole traders and partnerships: five years after the 31 January submission deadline of the relevant tax year. VAT records are generally kept six years, and HMRC can reach further back where it suspects fraud or serious error. Note the UK's Making Tax Digital rules increasingly require these records to be kept digitally in compatible software.
Six years from the end of the last tax year the records relate to — books, accounts, vouchers and source documents alike. Distinctive Canadian details: destroying records earlier requires the CRA's written permission, and electronic records are acceptable provided they can be reproduced on request.
Generally five years, counted from when the record was prepared or obtained, or when the transaction was completed — whichever is later. Records must be in English (or readily convertible) and can be digital.
No single EU rule — member states set their own periods, mostly seven to ten years. Germany is the current moving target: accounting vouchers dropped from ten years to eight in January 2025 while books and annual financial statements stayed at ten — and German periods start at the end of the calendar year of the last entry, which quietly adds up to a year. France runs ten years for accounting records. If you operate in the EU, confirm the exact period with a local accountant — our partner firms can help.
Kai records your documents daily in QuickBooks, Xero or another platform — yours, or one we manage for you — and a person signs every monthly close. Flat monthly pricing, quoted in writing.
Yes — the IRS, HMRC, CRA and ATO all accept electronic records, provided they are complete, legible and reproducible on request. The UK's Making Tax Digital rules go further and require digital record-keeping in compatible software for many businesses. Scan or photograph documents as they arrive and file them by year and month.
Almost never on the document's own date. In the US it runs from the filing date or due date of the return; in the UK and Canada from the end of the relevant financial or tax year; in Germany from the end of the calendar year of the last entry. Practically, that adds a year or more to the headline period.
Deductions can be disallowed, penalties applied, and estimates substituted for your figures — tax authorities resolve missing evidence in their own favor. If you're already behind, a catch-up bookkeeping project rebuilds the ledger from bank statements and whatever documents survive, and flags the true gaps honestly.
