What records to keep as a sole trader, and for how long

Checked against gov.uk on 4 July 2026. When the rules change, this page changes.

HMRC's rule is blunt: keep your records for at least 5 years after the 31 January submission deadline of the relevant tax year. Their own example: a 2022 to 2023 return filed online by 31 January 2024 means keeping the records behind it until at least the end of January 2029. Five years is a long life for a glovebox receipt.

The 5-year rule

The clock starts at the filing deadline, not the day you filed. Every tax year's records get the same treatment, so at any moment you're holding five to six years of business paperwork. That's the retention SoleTax's storage is built around: everything captured stays retrievable for the full window, even if your phone doesn't make it that far.

What to keep

Everything behind the numbers on your return:

Income: invoices, payment records, and what came in through the bank.
Expenses: receipts for everything you claim, however small.
Mileage: date, distance and purpose for every business journey you claim.
CIS statements, if you're a subcontractor: proof of every deduction.

Digital records and MTD

Making Tax Digital raises the bar from keeping paperwork to keeping digital records: for every business transaction, the amount, the date and the category, recorded in software, created as close to the transaction as possible. The full picture is in our Making Tax Digital guide, but the practical version is simple: a receipt captured on the day, categorised and stored, is a record that's already MTD-shaped and already safe for its five years.

Quick answers

Do I need to keep bank statements?
Keep everything that sits behind the figures on your return: income records, expense receipts, and the statements that show the money moving. If a number on the return can't be traced to a record, it's a weak spot.

Paper or digital?
Under Making Tax Digital your transaction records themselves must be kept digitally, in software: the amount, the date and the category for each one. A shoebox is a backup, not a record.

What if I filed late?
File more than 4 years after the deadline and the records behind that return must be kept for 15 months after you send it.

What happens if HMRC ask and I've lost them?
Then you have nothing to show for the figures you claimed, and HMRC has no reason to accept them. Keeping records safe for the full five years is the whole game.

Get all of this handled for you

Snap receipts as you get them. Drive like you always do. Invoice from your phone. SoleTax turns all of it into MTD-ready digital records, and shows the tax building as you go. 14 days free, no card needed.

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Sources: gov.uk business records if you're self-employed, and gov.uk Making Tax Digital guidance. Checked on 4 July 2026.