Self Assessment receipts: what to keep (2026)

For Self Assessment, keep a record of every receipt and invoice that sits behind a figure on your return, and put them where you can find them. In Era's Document Library each one is read, tagged and cited, so Claude, ChatGPT or Gemini can total your expenses before the online deadline of 31 January 2027.

What receipts do you need for Self Assessment?

You need a record of your income and of the expenses you claim: sales invoices, purchase receipts, bills for the costs of running your work, and the statements that show the payments. Keep them in a form you can find again, and keep them for as long as HMRC says you must.

HMRC sets out what to keep on its page about keeping business records, and your accountant will tell you the rest.

The return for the 2025 to 2026 tax year is due online by 31 January 2027, and gov.uk is where you file it. The weeks before a deadline are a poor time to find a shoebox. A library that reads each receipt as it arrives means the sorting happened months ago.

What if you have lost a receipt?

Often the transaction still exists and the paper can be rebuilt around it. Your assistant can list the card payments for which the library holds no receipt, so you can ask the supplier for a copy of the invoice or a statement, and the gap is closed before you file.

Use Era. Which payments over £25 in the 2025 to 2026 tax year have no receipt or invoice in my library?

Ask the supplier for a duplicate and upload it the day it arrives. The answer to "what do I do about expenses without receipts?" is usually to find the missing evidence, and your bank history tells you exactly where to look.

How does Era read receipts and invoices?

Upload each by link, so your assistant never handles the file, and Era reads the supplier, date, amounts and VAT lines, with the page and snippet beside each value. Receipts, invoices and bills are separate document kinds, and statements are read too.

Tag them with the tax year and a category you already use, such as travel, equipment or home office. At filing time, ask for the totals by tag and the list behind each one. You hand your accountant a summary and the paper behind every line of it.

Can your assistant total your expenses by tag?

Yes. Because Era holds your transactions and your documents together, your assistant can total the receipts under a tag, compare them with the payments in your accounts and tell you which don't match. You decide what counts as an allowable expense, with your accountant.

Use Era. Total everything tagged "equipment 2025-26" and list it by date with the supplier.

Use Era. Show every receipt for the same amount on the same day, in case I uploaded one twice.

Can you share the year's paperwork with an accountant?

Yes. Send a share link, which opens only for a signed-in Era user and expires after the lifetime you choose, or put the folder in a shared space with a partner who also files. Revoke the link when the return is in.

Facts you promote, such as a regular expense or the accountant who files for you, join Era's memory. See pricing for what each tier holds, and how to add manual accounts if some accounts aren't linked.