By KYN AI Advisory Team — AI implementation specialists, Singapore
A Singapore company must keep its source documents, bank statements and accounting records for at least five years from the relevant Year of Assessment, in physical or electronic form. IRAS sets this rule and expects you to explain every transaction behind your income, expenses and purchases. This article lists what to keep, how to organise it, and how to work out the date you can safely discard each file.
What records must a company keep?
IRAS names four groups of records for companies.
- Source documents: receipts, invoices, vouchers, taxi receipts and travel documents.
- Bank statements.
- Accounting records and schedules that summarise business transactions.
- Other records of transactions connected with the business.
The test is simple. For any figure in your tax computation, you should be able to produce the document that shows what happened and the schedule that adds it up.
How long do you keep them?
At least five years from the relevant Year of Assessment (YA). IRAS gives an example: for a company with a December year end, records for YA 2023, which is financial year 2022, must be kept until 31 December 2027.
To find your date:
- Identify the financial year of the transaction.
- Find its Year of Assessment, which is the year after the financial year ends.
- Add five years, then keep until the end of that calendar year.
So an invoice dated 14 March 2026 in a financial year ending 31 December 2026 belongs to YA 2027. Keep it until 31 December 2032.
Other rules may run longer. Contracts, employment records and anything tied to a dispute or a warranty can have their own clocks. When in doubt, keep the longest period that applies.
If a company is struck off or wound up, IRAS says an officer or the liquidator must keep the books and papers for at least five years after dissolution.
What should you keep, by document type?
| Document | Why it matters | Keep with | |---|---|---| | Sales invoices and credit notes | Revenue and GST output | Bank receipt, contract or order | | Purchase invoices and bills | Expense deductions and GST input | Payment proof | | Receipts for small spend | Support for reimbursed claims | Claim form with purpose | | Bank and card statements | Evidence that payments happened | Reconciliation | | Payroll records and CPF submissions | Salary deductions | Payslips, contracts | | Fixed asset invoices and schedule | Capital allowances | Depreciation schedule | | Loan agreements and statements | Interest deduction | Repayment schedule | | GST returns and workings | Filing evidence | Sales and purchase listings | | Tax computations and filed returns | Support for what you declared | Working papers | | Contracts and quotations | Substance of the deal | Related invoices | | Stock records and counts | Cost of sales | Count sheets | | Management accounts and journals | Explains adjustments | Narrations and approvals |
Can you keep records only in electronic form?
Yes. IRAS says source documents can be kept in physical or electronic form, and it strongly encourages companies to use accounting software. Accounting records and schedules must be kept in a systematic order.
For electronic copies, apply four standards.
- Legible: a scan or photo you can read at full size.
- Complete: all pages, including terms.
- Findable: a file name or index that links to the ledger entry.
- Protected: a backup in a second location, and access limited to named people.
Keep the original where the law needs it, such as certain contracts and deeds. Ask your lawyer.
How should you organise the folder?
Two structures work. Pick one and keep to it.
By period then type
/2026/10-October/Purchases/, /2026/10-October/Sales/, /2026/10-October/Bank/
By type then period
/Purchases/2026/10/, /Sales/2026/10/
Whichever you choose, name files with date, supplier and amount: 2026-10-14_AcmeFreight_S$412.50.pdf. Better still, attach the file to the ledger entry, so that the entry is the index and the folder is the store. A document not linked to an entry is hard to find in five years.
What does a monthly document routine look like?
- Capture each receipt and bill on the day it arrives.
- Match each to a bank line during reconciliation.
- List documents missing for bank lines. Chase suppliers or complete a missing-receipt note.
- Lock the month.
- Back up the folder.
Step 3 is where the most value sits. A missing document is easiest to replace within weeks. After a year, the supplier may have closed their account. For the capture side, see how to scan receipts for GST claims.
What happens if a record is missing?
Weak records carry legal exposure, but the more common cost is a disallowed deduction: an expense you cannot support may be taken out of your claim. For GST, an input claim needs a valid tax invoice.
If a document is genuinely lost, do three things: ask the supplier for a copy, write a signed note stating what the item was, the amount, the date and why the copy is missing, and file the note with the entry. A note is not a substitute for a receipt, but it shows good faith.
Which records need extra care?
- Overseas purchases: keep the foreign currency invoice, the card statement showing the Singapore dollar charge and the rate source. See recording foreign-currency expenses.
- Staff claims: the receipt, purpose and approval. A policy helps; see the expense claims policy template.
- Digital purchases: invoices from software vendors are often only available from an account page. Download them monthly, because access may lapse.
- Cash sales: keep till rolls or daily summaries and the bank deposit slip.
- Changes after the fact: keep the change log. Read what an audit trail is.
When can you throw records away?
When the date from the five-year rule has passed, no tax query, audit or dispute is open, and no other law or contract needs them longer. Then delete on a schedule, not ad hoc: once a year, list files past their date, have a director approve the list, delete, and record what was deleted and when.
Deletion is an irreversible action. In systems we build, deletions wait for a named person.
Where KYN fits
KYN builds finance systems that run in a cloud account in your name, with documents attached to ledger entries rather than loose in a folder. In our own books, bills are read from Gmail into the ledger with the original email attached. For a manufacturer, we moved 10,210 vendor quotes into one system. Every action is logged with the actor, and deletions wait for a named person.
The 14-day review maps where receipts, contracts and bank files sit today and who files them. A full build ships in under 90 days. See finance systems and security.
Frequently asked questions
Is five years enough for every record?
It is the tax record rule from IRAS. Contracts, employment records and anything under dispute may need longer. Keep the longest period that applies to a document.
Can I keep photos of receipts instead of paper?
Yes, if the image is legible, complete and findable. IRAS accepts source documents in physical or electronic form. Back up the files in a second location.
Who is responsible if my accountant holds the records?
The company. Directors remain responsible for keeping records, even when an accountant or corporate secretary stores them. Ask for a copy of the files at least once a year.
Checked 30 October 2026.
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