HMRC has accepted digital copies of receipts for over a decade, but the rules on what counts as a valid digital record catch a lot of people out — especially with Making Tax Digital tightening up in 2026.
Are digital receipts actually allowed?
Yes. HMRC's guidance is explicit: you can keep records on paper, digitally or as part of a software package. The only requirement is that the record is complete, clear and readable for the whole period you're required to keep it.
In practice that means a phone photo or PDF of a receipt is fine, provided:
- All the information on the original is legible
- You can produce it if HMRC asks
- It's stored somewhere it won't be lost or corrupted
How long do you have to keep receipts?
- Sole traders / partnerships: at least 5 years after the 31 January submission deadline for that tax year (so records for 2025/26 must be kept until 31 January 2032).
- Limited companies: at least 6 years from the end of the accounting period.
- VAT-registered businesses: at least 6 years.
What HMRC expects to see on the receipt itself
For a receipt to count as evidence of a business expense it needs to show:
- Date of the transaction
- Supplier / vendor name
- Total amount paid
- What was purchased (line-item detail helps)
- VAT number and VAT amount, if you're claiming input VAT
If any of those are missing or unreadable, HMRC can disallow the expense. This is why a blurry phone photo taken at arm's length in a dim restaurant is a real problem.
Practical rules for digital storage
- Capture at the point of transaction. The clearer the original, the clearer the digital copy. Snap the receipt before it goes in your pocket.
- Store it somewhere backed up. A folder on one phone that could be lost or wiped isn't enough. Cloud-backed apps or accounting software solve this.
- Link the receipt to the transaction. A bank statement line without a receipt isn't evidence; a receipt without a matching payment isn't either. Under MTD the two need to sit alongside each other in your digital ledger.
- Throw the paper away only when you're confident of the digital copy. Faded thermal receipts are the classic case — once digitised properly, the paper can go.
Where LedgeIt fits
LedgeIt is built around this exact workflow. You snap the receipt on your phone, OCR pulls out the date, vendor, total and VAT, the file is stored in cloud storage against the transaction, and your accountant can pull the whole lot as a CSV or ZIP at year end via the export tools.
That's the standard HMRC will be looking for from April 2026 onwards — it's much easier to build the habit now.