How long do you actually need to keep receipts?

Six years in Canada, three to seven in the United States, and longer than you think for property. A practical guide to retention periods.

"How long do I have to keep this?" is the question that turns a drawer into an archive. The honest answer is that it depends on where you are and what the document supports, but the general shape is more consistent than people expect.

Canada

The Canada Revenue Agency’s general rule is that you keep your records and supporting documents for six years from the end of the last tax year they relate to. For a return you filed on time, that clock runs from the end of the tax year covered by the return, not from the date you filed.

• Six years from the end of the last tax year the records relate to, as the default
• Longer if you file late — the clock generally starts from the filing date instead
• Longer again if there is an objection or appeal, until it is resolved and the appeal period has passed
• Records supporting the purchase of long-lived property should be kept until six years after you dispose of it, because the purchase price matters to the disposition

United States

The IRS works in periods of limitation rather than a single number. The common case is three years, but several situations extend it, and some records have no expiry at all.

• Three years is the usual period for assessing additional tax
• Six years where income is substantially understated
• Seven years for claims involving a bad debt deduction or worthless securities
• Indefinitely if no return was filed, or a fraudulent one was
• Property records until the period of limitations expires for the year you dispose of the property

The things people forget

Tax is not the only clock. A warranty can run five or ten years, and the manufacturer will want the original proof of purchase at the end of it. Home improvements can affect the capital gain on an eventual sale, which may be decades away. Insurance claims turn on what you owned. None of those periods line up with a tax retention rule.

The practical consequence is that "keep it for six years" is a floor rather than a policy. For anything durable — appliances, tools, electronics, work on a property — the useful retention period is the life of the thing plus whatever period applies once you dispose of it.

Is a photo good enough?

Both the CRA and the IRS accept electronic records, with the general expectation that they are complete, legible and readily accessible for the retention period. A clear photograph or a PDF of a receipt normally satisfies that, which matters because thermal paper fades to blank in a couple of years regardless of how carefully you filed it.

What is not sufficient anywhere is the bank statement on its own. It is evidence that a payment happened, not evidence of what was purchased. If the supporting document is gone, the statement will not stand in for it.

Which is the whole argument for capturing the receipt at the moment of purchase and attaching it to the charge, rather than deciding six years from now whether you still need it.