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Business Records That Companies Must Keep

 
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Companies are required to keep proper records and accounts of business transactions. Your company must maintain proper records of its financial transactions and retain the source documents, accounting records and schedules, bank statements and any other records of transactions connected with your business.

Using an accounting software helps businesses improve record keeping and comply with tax obligations. Businesses can also use the information captured in the software to ensure that operations are effective and efficient. The IRAS’ Accounting Software Register lists the accounting software that are able to meet IRAS’ technical requirements and businesses considering to use an accounting software for record keeping are encouraged to consider those in this list.

Duration for Records and Accounts Keeping

For accounting records and supporting documents relating to Year of Assessment (YA) 2008 and subsequent YAs, your company must retain the records for a period of five years from the relevant YA. Failure to do so may result in:

  • Expenses claimed being disallowed; or/and
  • Penalties

Examples:

Companies with December Financial Year End

YA

Records for Period

To Keep Up to

2016

1 Jan 2015 to 31 Dec 2015

31 Dec 2020

2020 1 Jan 2019 to 31 Dec 201931 Dec 2024

Companies with non-December financial year end, e.g. Jun, Sep

YA

Records for period

To keep up to

2016

1 Oct 2014 to 30 Sep 2015

31 Dec 2020

20201 Oct 2018 to 30 Sep 201931 Dec 2024

Where a company has been struck off and dissolved, a person who was an officer of the company immediately before the company was dissolved must ensure that all books and papers of the company are retained for a period of at least five years after the date on which the company was dissolved.

Where a company is being wound up, the liquidator of the company must ensure that all the books and papers of the company are retained for a period of at least five years (instead of two years previously) from the date of dissolution of the company.

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Guides on Record Keeping

Please refer to our e-learning video to have an overview of record-keeping requirements for Income Tax and GST purposes.

GST-registered Businesses 

For companies that are GST-registered, please refer to the e-Guide on Record Keeping Guide for GST-Registered Businesses  (PDF, 373KB) for the record keeping requirements. This will cover requirements for keeping business records in electronic media and imaging systems.

Non-GST-registered Businesses 

For companies that are not GST-registered, please refer to the e-Guide Record Keeping Guide for Non GST-Registered Businesses  (PDF, 475KB) for the record keeping requirements. This will cover requirements for keeping business records in electronic media and imaging systems.

Please refer to the Record Keeping Checklist  (PDF, 61KB), which provides a summary of the different types of records required.

Record Keeping Self-Assessment Toolkit
IRAS has created a self-assessment tool kit to help businesses perform a self-review of their existing record keeping standards and to better understand the possible areas for improvement.

For non-GST registered businesses, please download the toolkit (XLSX, 30KB). 

For GST-registered businesses, please download the toolkit (XLSX, 172KB).

 

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  • If my business purchases a new accounting software, do we need to migrate all the accounting transactions recorded in the existing accounting software to the new accounting software?

    There is no specific requirement for businesses to migrate the accounting transactions recorded in the existing accounting software to the new accounting software. However, after purchasing the new accounting software, businesses must continue to retain and be able to retrieve the accounting transactions that had been recorded in the existing software for at least five years from the Year of Assessment or end of the GST accounting period to which it relates. Other business documents associated with these transactional records, such as source documents, accounting records and schedules and bank statements, should be retained accordingly as well.