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Keep your accounting records for six years from the end of the last tax year they relate to. If your business runs on a calendar year, an invoice dated March 2026 stays until December 31, 2032, and not a day earlier unless the CRA gives you written permission.
Keep your records for six years from the end of the last tax year they relate to, unless you have permission from the CRA to destroy them earlier.
Keeping Records (RC188), Canada Revenue Agency, canada.ca
How long do accounting records have to be kept?
Six years is the rule most people need. The catch is where the six years start. They start at the end of the last tax year the record touches, so a January receipt and a December receipt from the same year both wait for the same date. That’s the part people usually get wrong.
A few situations change the clock.
| Situation | How long you keep the records |
|---|---|
| Normal filing on time | Six years from the end of the last tax year they relate to |
| Return filed late | Six years from the date you file it |
| Objection or appeal open | Until the latest of the decision, the end of the appeal period, or the six years |
| Unincorporated business closed | Six years from the end of the tax year in which it stopped operating |
| Corporation dissolved | Two years after the dissolution |
| Long-term property, share registers, history needed to sell or wind up | No end date |
What does that look like with real dates?
Say your corporation has a December 31 year end. Its 2026 records (sales invoices, bank statements, payroll files, receipts) can be destroyed after December 31, 2032.
Now suppose the 2026 T2 was due on June 30, 2027, since a corporation files six months after its year end, and you sent it on September 15, 2027. Late filing moves the clock. Those records now stay until September 15, 2033, about eight and a half months longer than you’d have guessed.
Payment dates work differently from filing dates. Tax owing is generally due two months after year end, or three months for a Canadian-controlled private corporation that meets the conditions. To see roughly what a year of profit costs in tax, try the corporate tax calculator. Keep the printout with the file.
Where should you keep your accounting records?
In Canada, at your place of business or your home, unless the CRA has agreed in writing to somewhere else. Cloud storage is a grey spot. The CRA’s circular says books and records kept outside the country and reached online from Canada aren’t treated as records in Canada. If your bookkeeping software stores everything on a foreign server, ask the CRA how it wants you to handle that, and get the answer in writing. The agency can allow it in some cases, for example when it can read the files and they show enough detail to support your return.
Whatever you choose, make sure someone can read the files in six years. Paper fades and file formats die. A yearly backup on a drive that’s kept somewhere else costs very little.
Can you throw records out early?
Only with permission. You ask on Form T137, Request for Destruction of Records, or by writing to your tax services office. The CRA warns that you may be prosecuted if you destroy records without its permission, which is a heavy price for a tidier filing cabinet. Most small firms have no good reason to ask. Storage is cheap.
What about property you bought years ago?
This is where the six years can stretch for decades. The CRA’s retention circular says records behind long-term transactions, such as the purchase of an investment or other capital property, should be kept until six years after the last tax year in which that transaction could still affect a tax calculation. Buy a rental condo in 2026 and sell it in 2046, and the purchase papers have to be there in 2046 to prove your cost. The capital gains tax calculator is only as good as that starting number, so file those papers separately from the yearly pile.
Mistakes that cost people money
The first is treating the six years as a target instead of a floor. If you’ve filed an objection, the records stay until it’s settled, even if that’s past the six-year line.
The second is mixing up business types. A sole proprietor filing a T1 and a corporation filing a T2 both follow the same six-year idea, but a corporation also has to keep its share register and its minute book with no end date. Those are the papers a buyer or a liquidator will ask for.
The third is keeping the bank statement and losing the invoice behind it. Auditors want the document that explains the payment. If you claim GST or HST input tax credits, keep the supplier invoices, and run your sales through the GST/HST calculator to check your own invoices add up. For staff, the payroll remittance calculator helps you see what you should have sent in, and your payroll records need to back that up. Self-employed people can test a year’s numbers with the self-employed tax calculator and file the working papers too.
No single CRA page lists every record type with its own retention period, so for anything unusual, such as a foreign asset or a long lease, check with the CRA before you destroy the paper.
Where this information comes from
The retention periods come from the Canada Revenue Agency‘s pages on keeping records and on requesting permission to destroy them, including its page on where to keep records and for how long, and the T2 dates from its corporation filing pages, all read in October 2026. This is an independent guide, separate from any government body.
Frequently asked questions
How many years do I keep business receipts in Canada?
Six years from the end of the last tax year they relate to. A 2026 receipt on a calendar year stays until December 31, 2032.
Do I keep records longer if I file late?
Yes. The six years then run from the date you file the return, not from the end of the tax year.
Can I store my records in the cloud?
Only with care. The CRA says electronic records that you can only reach from outside Canada aren't treated as kept in Canada.
How do I get permission to destroy records early?
Send Form T137, Request for Destruction of Records, or write to your tax services office. Wait for the reply before you shred anything.
What if I closed my business?
You still keep the records for six years from the end of the tax year in which the business stopped operating. A dissolved corporation keeps them for two years after dissolution.
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