Records & Archives – ATO Retention Requirements

How long do I have to keep records for?

We can’t really think of anyone who actually enjoys sorting through paperwork for the guys at the tax office. But it is important to keep everything in a neat and orderly fashion, or you risk penalisation (hint: it’s a lot worse than the odd parking fine).

The Essentials:

You should keep all important business documents (see ‘what records do I need to keep for the ATO’) for 5 years
Documents should be well organized and easily retrievable for when the ATO drops in.

You must hold on to your records until it becomes certain that no Capital Gains Tax (CGT) event can happen where the records could reasonably be expected to be relevant.

If you have electronic records, you don’t need to retain a paper copy of the information unless another law or regulation you to retain paper copies.

If you’re unsure, it’s better to have too many records than too few, but in any case a digital copy that fulfils the ATO criteria is just as a good as an original (in fact a lot better since it’s not clogging up your office-space!)

The five years begin when the records are prepared or obtained, or five years after the completion of a transaction to which the records relate.

Find out how your document management fares with the ATO Record Keeping Evaluation Tool

See the ATO’s website for more information on personal record-keeping.

Or here for more information on professional record-keeping.

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