Do I need receipts for tax deductions? What to keep and how long

Short answer: For business expenses, yes. The IRS says supporting documents such as receipts, paid bills, invoices and canceled checks should identify the payee, the amount paid, proof of payment, the date and a description that shows the amount was a business expense ^[1]. Keep them until the period of limitations for that return runs out, which is 3 years in the usual case ^[2].

What a receipt has to show

Who you paid: the payee ^[1].
How much you paid, and proof that you paid it ^[1].
The date of the expense ^[1].
What it was for: a description showing it was a business expense ^[1].
A single document may not cover all of this; a combination of documents may be needed ^[1].

How long to keep it

3 years, if none of the cases below applies ^[2].
3 years from filing or 2 years from paying the tax, whichever is later, if you file a claim for credit or refund ^[2].
7 years if you claim a loss from worthless securities or a bad debt deduction ^[2].
6 years if you do not report income that you should, and it is more than 25% of the gross income shown on your return ^[2].
Indefinitely if you do not file a return, or if you file a fraudulent return ^[2].

Keeping them in order

Keep supporting documents in an orderly fashion and in a safe place, for instance by year and by type of income or expense ^[1]. For travel and car expenses, documentary evidence is ordinarily adequate if it shows the amount, date, place and essential character of the expense ^[3].

Scanning and filing receipts on your phone

Text recognition makes mistakes, especially on faded receipts and handwriting; check any figure you will rely on. Scanning happens on the device — the app does not upload your documents.

Paper Trail: Receipt Scanner — Scan the receipt; it is sorted by type, and you file it in your own folders.

Photograph a paper, pick an image or import a PDF; the text is read on the phone
Chinese, Japanese, Korean and Devanagari papers are read too, with models that ship inside the app
When the paper's edges are found with confidence, the photo is shown straightened; the original is kept and one tap brings it back
Up to 20 pages in one paper, read and searched together; the PDF, the ZIP and printing carry every page
Clean up a photo — shadow removed, grey or black and white, your own brightness and contrast — or paint over a stain with the eraser; the original is kept and is what gets read
Edit, copy or share the text that was read; a business card opens your Contacts app with its name, phones and email filled in
Translate a paper written in another language on the phone, line by line as printed: download a language once (about 30 MB, over Wi-Fi), then it works offline
The type is guessed from the words on the page — receipt, invoice, official document
It is grouped by type automatically, papers it is unsure about are listed for you to check, and you can move any of them into your own folders
Your own tags (a client, a trip, a project) on top of folders; star the papers you need often, and the ones you opened last are one tap away
Filter the list by type, date range, tag or star, together with the search
A spending category for each receipt — groceries, fuel, lodging and more — suggested from its text and marked until you confirm it
When you correct an issuer, a category or a type, the next paper from the same issuer gets your choice, marked as filled from your history
Tax, tip and payment method are read from the lines the receipt labels, and its line items are listed and checked against its total; no tax is ever calculated
Expense reports for a month, a quarter, a year or your own dates as PDF, CSV or Excel, totalled by type and by category
Spending charts in your report currency: categories, the last 12 months, the biggest category's share and the change from the previous period
Share the report, the CSV or the Excel file directly, or a ZIP with the receipt photos; a single paper goes out as a JPEG or a PDF, or is printed through your phone's print screen
Images and PDFs shared from another app arrive as papers; a full backup puts every photo in one ZIP for a new phone (photos are not encrypted inside that file)
Other currencies are converted only at the rate you type from your card statement; papers without a rate are listed apart, never guessed
Import the CSV statement from your online banking: it is read on the phone, the app asks when the date order or the sign of the amounts is unclear, skips totals and lines already imported, and never connects to your bank
Quick entry by voice or text — say or type "12.50 coffee"; your phone's own speech screen does the listening and this app asks for no microphone permission
Mark money in as well as money out: the report shows both and the profit or loss in your report currency
Separate businesses, each with its own papers, report and currency; folders and tags are shared
Photos are stored encrypted on the phone; an optional app lock uses your phone's own screen lock
On a tablet, the list and the paper sit side by side; drag a paper onto a folder, or drop in an image or a PDF from another app
Searchable text, so a receipt can be found by what it says
No account and no upload: the documents stay on this phone

Get it on Google Play

All details, permissions and version history of the app: Paper Trail: Receipt Scanner · Privacy policy

Sources

What kind of records should I keep (Internal Revenue Service) — https://www.irs.gov/businesses/small-businesses-self-employed/what-kind-of-records-should-i-keep (accessed 2026-10-22)
How long should I keep records? (Internal Revenue Service) — https://www.irs.gov/businesses/small-businesses-self-employed/how-long-should-i-keep-records (accessed 2026-10-22)
IRS Publication 463 (2025), Travel, Gift, and Car Expenses (Internal Revenue Service) — https://www.irs.gov/publications/p463 (accessed 2026-10-22)

Paper Trail: Receipt Scanner is an independent app. It is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or connected to any institution, authority, brand or company mentioned in it.