What Records Do I Need To Keep?

Records must be kept for a minimum of six years. Up until January 2012 all original third party invoices/statements were required to be retained by the business. On the 27^th January 2012 Revenue published new guidance in relation to the storage of records. These regulations allow for third part documents to be stored electronically without the need to keep the original copy.

All electronically stored records must be accessible to a Revenue official in paper or electronic format. There should be a clear audit trail within the system to cover scanning, batch details, indexing, problems arising during processing of records, the time and date of such processing, the name of the processor and other relevant information.

Where records are not kept the taxpayer is liable to a penalty of €1,520. If records are destroyed it may be possible to get copy documents from third parties. The penalty will not be payable where the Revenue are satisfied that any facts which they wish to query can be adequately explained by other documentary evidence.

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Date published 21 Feb 2013

This article is intended to inform rather than advise and is based on legislation and practice at the time. Taxpayer’s circumstances do vary and if you feel that the information provided is beneficial it is important that you contact us before implementation. If you take, or do not take action as a result of reading this article, before receiving our written endorsement, we will accept no responsibility for any financial loss incurred.