Scanning receipts

[Third Sector Lab]

I'm looking to buy a Fujitsu Scansnap S300 so I can scan all letters, bank statements etc I receive and cut down on the clutter in my house.

If I scan a receipt do I still need to retain the original copy for business purposes?

What about bank statements etc?

 

[kmbookkeeping]

Hi,

This is an extract straight from the HMRC website. It would suggest that for most records if you scan them you don't need to keep originals.

Can I use my computer to keep records?

If you transfer details from paper records onto a computer, you will still normally have to keep the original paper records unless you microfilm them or use an optical imaging system. You don't have to print everything out, as long as the information in the original documents can be recovered from the computer and satisfies the other rules for record keeping.

You must keep the originals of any vouchers showing that tax has been taken from your income, even if you've microfilmed or imaged them. This includes

Bank and building society certificates giving details of the tax deducted from any interest you've received
Dividend vouchers
Certificates of tax deducted under the subcontractors scheme
Details of foreign tax withheld from overseas income.
You do not have to keep payslips showing tax deducted under PAYE, although you may still find it useful to keep paper records.

VAT records may be kept on computer provided they maintain all of the required information. They must be kept in such a way that our officers can easily verify your VAT returns.

Hope this helps you.

Kris

 

[Third Sector Lab]

So basically I only need to keep paper records of end of year bank statements, tax statements, etc?

I could scan and ditch any paper receipts and general bank statements?

 

[kmbookkeeping]

Yes, thats right.

 

[Mike Lewis]

Keep in mind that when you scan a bank statement or a receipt, you'll probably end up with an image of the document, rather than the text of the document. This is especially true of multi-column documents, or those where different items of text are placed in specific boxes on the form. That sort of text is difficult for the optical character recognition (OCR) software to interpret.

This means that you will be able to bring the document to the screen and to print it out, but you won't be able to search the documents for specific text or to sort the documents by date, statement number, etc.

I'm not saying that you shouldn't do the scanning, just that you should be aware of its limitations. (Of course, the same limitations apply to paper documents as well.)

Mike

 

[kmbookkeeping]

Just to clarify Mike, what you're actually saying is that scanning a document has no greater drawback than to keeping the original paper format, but offers rather a whole host of benefits over it's paper counterpart?

Kris

 

[Mike Lewis]

Kris,

Well, I wouldn't say "a whole host of benefits" .. but, yes, basically I'd agree with that.

The most obvious benefit is the saving in storage space and the ease of handling. But that's got to be weighed against the time and effort involved in the scanning.

I would think most of the gains from storing accounting documents electronically would be where the documents are actually generated electronically in the first place. For example, there would be no point in scanning a paper bank statement if you can download your bank statement from an on-line banking site. Similarly, if you have a computer system for producing your outgoing invoices, there's clearly no reason to print and scan your internal copies.

Mike

 

[kmbookkeeping]

The other benefit I see is in terms of disaster recovery. As long as you have a backup of your scanned documents they are going to be easier to recover if you have a fire or flood etc. With the advent of low cost and more secure cloud solutions it's never been easier. It also allows you to work on your accounts in two locations or allows your bookkeeper or accountant access.

I do agree with Mike that you need to weigh up the costs of the scanner and your time.

Kris

 

[stugster]

That's an important point you make Kris. If you're storing your receipts in a digitised form on your computer, make sure you back up!!!!!!


Let me just be clear: BACK UP! BACK UP! BACK UP!!!!

 

[Gouldie0]

Don't forgot the timescales for which the scanned images must be kept.......... the last thing you want to do is end up deleting them (because you don't think they needed anymore) and then you get HMRC on the phone for an investigation.