How Long Do You Need to Keep Receipts in Canada?

If you run a business or are self-employed in Canada, the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) expects you to keep the receipts and records that support what you report. Here is what the rules say, and how to keep six years of receipts without six years of shoeboxes.

This article summarizes CRA guidance for general information. It is not tax advice — check the CRA pages linked below, or ask an accountant, for your situation.

The six-year rule

The CRA’s guidance is direct: generally, you must keep all required records and supporting documents for six years from the end of the last tax year they relate to.

Note the starting point. It is not six years from the date on the receipt — it is six years from the end of the tax year the receipt belongs to. A receipt from March 2026 supports your 2026 tax year, which ends on December 31, 2026, so it should be kept until at least the end of 2032.

Some situations — such as a return filed late, or a notice of objection or appeal — can mean keeping records longer. The CRA page on where to keep your records and for how long covers those cases.

Where records must be kept

The CRA says records must be kept at your place of business or your residence in Canada, unless it gives you written permission to keep them elsewhere.

For electronic records stored on servers outside Canada, the CRA may allow it as long as copies are available in Canada in a readable format and show enough detail to support your returns.

Do scanned or photographed receipts count?

Yes, with conditions. The CRA accepts an electronic image of a paper document when it is an accurate reproduction intended to take the place of the paper and gives the same information as the original. The significant details must not be obscured by the image’s resolution, tonality or hue.

Whether you can then throw the paper away depends on how you image it. According to the CRA, if your imaging follows the Canadian General Standards Board (CGSB) standard, the images become the permanent records and you can destroy the paper. If you cannot meet that standard, keep the originals. The CRA’s page on imaging paper documents and Information Circular IC05-1, Electronic Record Keeping have the details.

The CRA also asks that electronic records be backed up and restorable in a format it can use.

Destroying records early

Want to get rid of records before the six years are up? You need permission first. You can request it using Form T137, Request for Destruction of Records, or by writing to your tax services office. The CRA warns that destroying records without permission can lead to prosecution.

A practical system for six years of receipts

1. Capture receipts the day you get them. Thermal paper fades — a receipt that is readable today may be blank in two years.
2. Keep the image, not just the numbers. A spreadsheet row is not a supporting document; the receipt is.
3. File as you go. Sort business from personal, and by category, while you still remember what the purchase was for.
4. Make receipts findable. Six years is a long time. You should be able to find any receipt by store, date or amount in seconds.

SpendFlow is built for exactly this: scan a receipt and the image is stored in private storage, AI reads the merchant, date, subtotal, tax and total, and the receipt is filed by card, company and group. Search and filters find any receipt later.

Whether a phone photo meets the CGSB imaging standard for your business is a question for your accountant — if in doubt, scan it and keep the paper.