How long do you need to keep receipts for Inland Revenue?

Seven years. Anyone in business in New Zealand, from a sole trader or contractor to a company or a landlord, must keep their business records for at least 7 years.

The part people get wrong is when the seven years start. The clock does not run from the date printed on the receipt. It runs from the end of the tax year the receipt relates to, and New Zealand's tax year ends on 31 March.

A receipt from July 2025 belongs to the tax year 1 April 2025 to 31 March 2026. Seven years after that is 31 March 2033, nearly eight years after you paid for the item.

What counts as a business record#

Inland Revenue wants a record of every sale and purchase, cash or electronic, with enough detail to trace each one to your accounts and your return. The records it lists include:

• invoices and receipts, for what you sell and what you buy
• bank statements
• credit card statements and vouchers
• cash register or point-of-sale records
• cashbooks and other day-to-day records of money in and out

For expenses, the receipt matters most. A bank statement proves you paid someone. It rarely shows what you bought, and "what you bought" is the question that decides whether an expense is deductible.

If you are GST-registered, keep the taxable supply information behind every GST claim for the same seven years. The GST Act has its own record-keeping section (s 75) that mirrors the income tax rule.

Paper, photos and scans#

You do not have to keep the paper. SPS 21/02 lets you keep business records in electronic form, and it says a paper original "may be destroyed after transfer to the electronic form", provided:

• the electronic copy is complete and accurate, in effect an image of the original
• it stays readable and can be printed or supplied in a form Inland Revenue staff can read
• any notes you add do not obscure what the original said

That is the case for photographing receipts as soon as you get them. Most till slips are printed on thermal paper, which fades with heat and sunlight, often well inside seven years. For more detail, see whether Inland Revenue accepts photos of receipts.

Where your records must be kept#

This is the rule most people have never heard of. Business records must be kept in New Zealand, and in English or te reo Māori, unless Inland Revenue approves otherwise.

Cloud storage counts. Inland Revenue says that if you store records offshore, "including cloud computing", you or your cloud provider need its approval.

SPS 21/02 gives a simpler route: if a backup is also kept in New Zealand, the requirement is met and no approval is needed (paragraph 43). A copy on your own computer or an external drive at home is a backup in New Zealand.

How to work out your date for each tax year#

If your business has a non-standard balance date, count seven years from the end of your own income year instead.

When to keep them longer#

• Assets you still own. A receipt for equipment you are depreciating supports every year you claim depreciation on it, and the calculation when you sell it.
• Property. Records of what you paid for a rental or investment property, and for improvements to it, matter when you sell, including under the bright-line test.
• Warranties. A receipt can prove a purchase for a Consumer Guarantees Act claim long after the tax question is settled.

If records are lost, destroyed or damaged, Inland Revenue asks you to contact it early and to show a reasonable attempt to reconstruct them. It says it will not penalise incomplete records where you have made that attempt in a reasonable time. For what to do in the meantime, see claiming business expenses without receipts.