Keeping business records
posted 14th September 2022
Business records you must keep if you're self-employed
- all receipts for goods and stock
- bank statements, chequebook stubs
- sales invoices, till rolls and bank slips
- all sales and income
- all business expenses
- VAT records if you're registered for VAT
- PAYE records if you employ people
- records about your personal income
- your grant, if you claimed through the Self-Employment Income Support Scheme because of coronavirus
Records you must keep if your running a limited company
- all money received and spent by the company, including grants and payments from coronavirus support schemes
- details of assets owned by the company
- debts the company owes or is owed
- stock the company owns at the end of the financial year
- the stocktakings you used to work out the stock figure
- all goods bought and sold
- who you bought and sold them to and from (unless you run a retail business)
- all money spent by the company, for example receipts, petty cash books, orders and delivery notes
- all money received by the company, for example invoices, contracts, sales books and till rolls
- any other relevant documents, for example bank statements and correspondence
You must keep details of:
- directors, shareholders and company secretaries
- the results of any shareholder votes and resolutions
- promises for the company to repay loans at a specific date in the future ('debentures') and who they must be paid back to
- promises the company makes for payments if something goes wrong and it's the company's fault ('indemnities')
- transactions when someone buys shares in the company
- loans or mortgages secured against the company's assets
How long must I keep financial records?
- Limited companies - 6 years from the end of the last company financial year they relate to
- Self employed - 5 years after the 31 January submission deadline of the relevant tax year
