Keep your records

Keeping good records helps you ​

Having a good record keeping system which you keep up-to-date will help you:

• Keep track of qualified expenses.

• Save time and accountancy costs.

• Pay the correct amount of tax.

• Receive the correct amount of benefits or credits.

• Avoid paying any extra tax or penalties.

The records you need to keep

The sort of records you need to keep depends upon the type of tax credit you plan to claim.

How to keep your records

The law does not say how you must keep your records. You must keep some original paper documents which show that tax has been deducted. You can keep all original documents; however, records can be kept electronically (on a computer or any storage device, such as disk, CD, memory stick, or microfilm) as long as the method you use:

• Captures all the information on the document (front and back).

• Allows the information to be presented to the government in a readable format, if they need to see it.

How long to keep your records

As a general rule, you should keep your records for as long as you have credit available to be used plus a minimum of four years (in addition to the year a credit amount is claimed).