What Records Does CRA Actually Require You to Keep?
Most small businesses keep records one of two ways. There is a shoebox, or there is a bank feed somebody hopes counts as bookkeeping. Both owners ask the same question: how much of this do I have to keep, and for how long?
CRA has written answers, and they are more specific than the advice you usually get. The most quoted one, the six-year rule, is also the one most often stated wrong. Below is what the law asks, with the CRA page behind each rule. If your books are behind, bookkeeping in Toronto is fixable once you know the target.
Bottom Line Up Front
- Six years from the end of the last tax year the records relate to, not six years from the receipt date (CRA, 2026). A January 2026 receipt for a calendar-year business is kept until the end of 2032.
- File a return late and the six years run from the day you file it, not from the year end (CRA, 2026).
- A credit card statement alone is generally not accepted in place of a receipt, because it does not say what you bought (CRA, 2024).
- Records must be kept in Canada unless CRA gives written permission (CRA, 2026). A foreign server you log into from Toronto does not count.
- You can scan and shred paper, but only if the imaging meets the national standard CRA names (CRA, 2026).
On this page: the six-year rule · the exceptions · what counts as a record · scanning and storage · the four claims CRA asks about most · missing records · a workable system
The six-year rule, and what CRA actually means by it
CRA’s wording is precise: “you must keep all required records and supporting documents for a period of six years from the end of the last tax year they relate to” (CRA, 2026). Two parts of that sentence do the work, and both get dropped in the usual summaries.
First, the clock starts at the end of the tax year, not on the invoice date. Tax year means the fiscal period for a corporation and the calendar year for an individual.
Worked example (2026 tax year)
A sole proprietor with a December 31 year end buys a $4,200 laptop on January 8, 2026. It relates to the 2026 tax year, which ends December 31, 2026. Six years later is December 31, 2032, nearly seven years after the invoice date.
The same laptop bought July 2, 2026 by a corporation with a June 30 year end falls in the period ending June 30, 2027, so the six years run to June 30, 2033.
Second, “the last tax year they relate to” is not always the year of purchase. Claim capital cost allowance on that laptop into 2030 and the invoice is still supporting a number on a 2030 return. CRA closes that loop: records of long-term acquisitions and disposals of property, the share registry, and other historical information affecting the sale, liquidation or wind-up of the business are kept permanently. File by fiscal year rather than by receipt date, and keep property and share records in a pile that never gets thrown out.
When six years is the wrong answer
| Situation | How long you must keep the records |
|---|---|
| Standard rule | Six years from the end of the last tax year the records relate to |
| Return filed late | Six years from the date you filed that return |
| Objection or appeal outstanding | The latest of: it is resolved, the time for a further appeal has passed, or the six years have passed |
| Corporation dissolved | Two years after the date of dissolution |
| Unincorporated business ends | Six years from the end of the tax year in which it ended |
| Long-term property records, share registry | Permanently |
Source for every row: CRA, where to keep records and for how long (2026).
The late-filing row catches people. File your 2021 return in 2026 and the six years start in 2026. Until a return is filed, nothing counts down, which is one more reason to get outstanding tax returns in. For corporations, Information Circular IC78-10R5 names what lives until two years after dissolution. That list covers minutes of director and shareholder meetings, share ownership and transfer records, general ledgers and books of final entry, and special contracts needed to understand the ledger entries (CRA, 2026). That is your minute book.
Clearing things out early needs written permission first, on Form T137, Request for Destruction of Records. CRA is blunt about the alternative: “If you destroy paper or electronic records without the CRA’s permission, you may be prosecuted” (CRA, 2026).
What counts as a record
CRA defines records as “organized accounting and financial documents that summarize your transactions and include the documents to support these transactions” (CRA, 2026). Its list runs from ledgers and financial statements through sales invoices, purchase receipts, contracts, bank statements, cancelled cheques, credit card receipts and log books.
Notice what is on it and what is not. Credit card receipts are records. A monthly credit card statement is a bank document showing a merchant and an amount, and CRA says it is not a substitute: “credit card statements are not generally accepted as a replacement for receipts unless they contain the above and other requested information” (CRA, 2024).
The “above” is CRA’s list of what a receipt has to show (CRA, 2026):
- the date of purchase
- the name and address of the seller or supplier
- the name and address of the buyer
- the full description of the goods or services
- the vendor’s business number, if they are a GST/HST registrant and the price is $100 or more before tax
So a line reading “AMZN MKTP CA $312.44” fails the description test. It shows money left your account, not what you bought or that it was for the business. Income entries need the same support: the date, amount and source, backed by original documents. Treat the bank feed as your index, not your evidence.
Scanning, cloud storage, and where your files may live
CRA accepts electronic records, including paper later converted to an accessible and readable electronic format (CRA, 2026). Two conditions decide whether your setup passes.
If a record was born digital, it stays digital. CRA’s wording: you have to keep them in an electronic readable format, even if you have paper printouts. Printing accounting software to PDF and wiping the file does not satisfy the rule.
If you scan paper and want to shred the original, the imaging has to meet the standard. CRA points to CAN/CGSB 72.34, Electronic Records as Documentary Evidence. Where imaging meets it, “the images become the permanent records. You can therefore destroy the imaged paper item.” Where a business cannot meet the standard, “it has to keep the original documents.” The image must be an accurate reproduction giving the same information as the paper, with no significant detail lost to poor resolution or tone.
Location is the part people miss. Records must be kept at your place of business or your residence in Canada unless CRA gives written permission otherwise. CRA is specific about the cloud: “records kept outside of Canada and accessed electronically from Canada are not considered to be records kept in Canada.” Where permission is given, CRA may accept a copy made available in Canada in an electronically readable and useable format (CRA, 2026).
The four claims CRA asks about most
The vehicle log book
A full log book records, for each business trip, the date, destination, purpose and number of kilometres, plus each vehicle’s odometer reading at the start and end of the fiscal period (CRA, 2026).
The simplified log book is the part worth knowing. Keep a full log book for one complete 12-month base year. After that, a three-month sample can estimate business use for a later year if usage stays in the same range. CRA’s formula is (sample year period % ÷ base year period %) × base year annual %. In CRA’s example, a base year at 49% annual business use and a sample showing 51% against 46% for the same months gives (51% ÷ 46%) × 49% = 54%, accepted as within 10% of the base year. Move more than 10% either way and you are back to a full log book.
Meals and entertainment
The cap is 50% of the lesser of the amount you incurred and an amount that is reasonable in the circumstances (CRA, 2026). Entertainment covers tickets and entrance fees to entertainment or sporting events, gratuities, cover charges and room rentals. Exceptions include food your business regularly provides for compensation, costs you bill to a client, and office parties open to all employees at a location, to a maximum of six a year.
Write the client name and the reason on the receipt before it goes in the pile. Six months later you will not remember.
Home office
You can deduct business-use-of-home expenses if the space is your principal place of business, or you use it only to earn business income and use it on a regular and ongoing basis to meet clients, customers or patients (CRA, 2026).
The business portion is the workspace area divided by the total area of your home. Where the space is also used personally, count the business hours, divide by 24, and apply that. Deductible costs include heat, insurance, electricity, cleaning materials, property taxes, mortgage interest and capital cost allowance, and the deduction cannot exceed net income from the business before these expenses. So the records are a floor plan measurement and twelve months of bills, not an estimate.
GST/HST input tax credits
To claim an input tax credit (ITC), your supporting document must carry set information, and how much depends on the size of the sale.
| Information required | Under $100 | $100 to $499.99 | $500 or more |
|---|---|---|---|
| Supplier’s business or trading name, or an intermediary’s | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Invoice date, or date GST/HST is paid or payable | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Total amount paid or payable | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| GST/HST charged, or an indication the price includes it | No | Yes | Yes |
| Status of each supply where taxable and exempt items are mixed | No | Yes | Yes |
| Supplier or intermediary’s GST/HST registration number | No | Yes | Yes |
| Buyer’s name, trading name or authorized representative | No | No | Yes |
| Brief description of the property or services | No | No | Yes |
| Terms of payment | No | No | Yes |
Source: CRA, input tax credits (2026). CRA notes there that under proposed changes as of April 20, 2021 the thresholds rose to $100 from $30 and to $500 from $150, so articles still quoting $30 and $150 use the old figures.
The consequence is the supplier’s GST/HST number. Above $100 you need it, and if the vendor did not print it you do not have what CRA asks for. Most registrants have four years after the end of the reporting period in which the ITC could first have been claimed to claim it, so there is usually time to go back for a proper invoice (CRA, 2026). Our page on HST filing in Toronto covers what we check first.
What happens if you do not have the records
The plain version is less dramatic than people fear. You are “required by law to keep records of all your transactions to be able to support your income and expense claims” (CRA, 2026). CRA puts it again on the expense side: you “have to support business expense claims with a sales invoice, an agreement of purchase and sale, a receipt, or some other voucher that supports the expenditure” (CRA, 2026). The burden sits with you. If a deduction is reviewed and nothing supports it, it can be denied and the tax recalculated.
A second layer applies when record keeping itself is the problem. Where a person has failed to keep adequate records, CRA may specify in writing which records they must keep. Failing to keep records as specified is an offence, and on summary conviction carries a fine of not less than $1,000 and not more than $25,000, or that fine plus imprisonment for up to 12 months (CRA, 2026). That is aimed at someone who ignored a written demand, not at someone whose 2023 receipts are in a drawer.
Hiring help does not move the duty: “You are responsible for making sure adequate records are kept even if a bookkeeper, accountant, Internet transaction manager, or application service provider keeps your business records for you” (CRA, 2026).
A system that takes ten minutes a week
- One business bank account and one business card. Not a CRA requirement, but it turns “which of these 400 lines is business” into a question you never have to answer.
- Capture the receipt at the purchase. Photograph it, write the client and purpose on it, let it upload. Thermal paper fades.
- Reconcile monthly. Twenty unexplained transactions is an evening. Two hundred and forty is a project.
- Keep the log book running all year. Kilometres cannot be reconstructed in April, only estimated, and estimates get reduced.
At year end your accountant needs monthly bank and credit card statements for the full fiscal year, the receipt file, sales invoices, the vehicle log, HST filings and payments, payroll records, loan and lease agreements, and last year’s return with the notice of assessment. For a corporation, add the minute book and any share transactions. That package makes a corporate tax return straightforward instead of archaeological.
Software, a bookkeeper, or nothing until year end
| Approach | What it costs | What it does not solve |
|---|---|---|
| Software you run yourself | A subscription plus your time | It categorizes, it does not decide. Miscoded entries and missing receipts pass through to the return |
| A bookkeeper, monthly or quarterly | A recurring fee | Nothing, if you still do not send the receipts |
| Nothing until year end | Nothing during the year | The whole cost lands in one month, with the least time to fix anything |
The third option deserves honest pricing. It does not remove the work, it compresses it into the most expensive window, done by someone reconstructing a year from statements with no receipts for the transactions that need them most. Deductions get dropped, and an ITC goes unclaimed because the invoice never carried the supplier’s GST/HST number. Contractors feel this hardest, since their claims are mostly vehicle, home office and equipment, as our guide to write-offs for IT consultants shows from the claim side.
Not sure your records would survive a CRA review? Ruby Tax has handled bookkeeping, HST and corporate filings from North York for over ten years, and you talk to the person doing the work. Get a free quote or call 647-990-7258.
Common Questions
Do I need to keep the paper receipt after scanning it?
Only if your imaging does not meet the CAN/CGSB 72.34 standard CRA names. Where it does, the image becomes the permanent record and the paper can go. Where a business cannot meet the standard, CRA says it has to keep the original documents.
I am an employee, not a business. Does this apply?
The six-year habit does. CRA tells individuals to keep tax documents for at least six years, including the return, notices of assessment and reassessment, and cancelled cheques, bank statements and other proof for deductions or credits claimed (CRA, 2026). That holds even when the form says not to attach receipts, and a personal tax return in North York is reviewed on the same basis.
My bookkeeper has all my files. Am I off the hook?
No. CRA puts the duty on you even when a third party holds the records. Make sure you can get a complete copy back whenever you want one.
Can I throw out records early if the business closed?
Not on your own schedule. An unincorporated business keeps records for six years from the end of the tax year in which it ended, and a dissolved corporation for two years after dissolution. Destroying anything sooner needs written CRA permission on Form T137.
Where to start
Count six years from the end of your fiscal year, not from the date on the paper, and keep property and corporate records permanently. Everything else follows from holding documents that show what you bought, from whom, and why.
A shoebox or four years of unopened envelopes is a normal starting point and a fixable one. Bring what you have and we will tell you what is missing before it becomes a filing problem. If HST returns are part of the backlog, our post on late HST returns explains what CRA does next.
Raj is the principal of Ruby Tax, a CRA e-file certified tax and accounting practice at 250 Consumers Road in North York. He has spent over ten years preparing personal and corporate returns for clients across Canada, from first-time filers to incorporated businesses and franchise operators. A large part of that work is turning incomplete records into a return that holds up.
Published October 16, 2026. Last updated October 16, 2026.
This article is general information, not tax advice for your situation. Tax rules change and the right answer depends on your facts. Confirm anything here against current CRA guidance or talk to us before you act on it.
