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 for 5 years from the relevant Year of Assessment (YA).
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Required Record Keeping Duration
Your company must retain its accounting records and supporting documents for 5 years from the relevant YA.
Failure to do so may result in expenses claimed being disallowed and/or penalties.
Example 1: Companies with Dec financial year end
| YA | Financial Year | To Keep Records Till |
|---|---|---|
| 2017 | 1 Jan 2016 to 31 Dec 2016 | 31 Dec 2021 |
| 2021 | 1 Jan 2020 to 31 Dec 2020 | 31 Dec 2025 |
Example 2: Companies with non-Dec financial year end
| YA | Financial Year | To keep Records Till |
|---|---|---|
| 2017 | 1 Oct 2015 to 30 Sep 2016 | 31 Dec 2021 |
| 2021 | 1 Oct 2019 to 30 Sep 2020 | 31 Dec 2025 |
Struck Off or Wound Up Companies
If your company has been struck off and dissolved, a person who was an officer of the company immediately before its dissolution must ensure that all books and papers of the company are retained for at least 5 years after the date on which the company was dissolved.
If your company is being wound up, the liquidator of the company must ensure that all the books and papers of the company are retained for at least 5 years from the date of dissolution of the company.
Record Keeping Guides
View our e-learning video for an overview of record keeping requirements for Income Tax and GST purposes and the Record Keeping Checklist (PDF, 61KB) for a summary of the different types of records required.
You may also refer to the relevant e-Tax guides:
- For GST-Registered Companies: Record Keeping Guide for GST-Registered Businesses (PDF, 298KB)
- For Non GST-Registered Companies: Record Keeping Guide for Non GST-Registered Businesses (PDF, 476KB)
Record Keeping Self-Assessment Toolkit
IRAS’ self-assessment toolkit helps companies to perform a self-review of their existing record keeping standards and to identify the possible areas for improvement:
- For GST-Registered Companies: Self-Assessment Toolkit (XLSX, 172KB)
- For Non GST-Registered Companies: Self-Assessment Toolkit (XLSX, 30KB)
Using Accounting Software
The use of accounting software helps companies to improve their record keeping standards and to comply with tax obligations. View IRAS’ Accounting Software Register for a list of accounting software that meet IRAS’ technical requirements.
FAQs
If my company 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 companies to migrate the accounting transactions recorded in the existing accounting software to the new accounting software.
However, after purchasing the new accounting software, your company must continue to retain and be able to retrieve the accounting transactions that had been recorded in the existing software for at least 5 years from the YA or end of the GST accounting period accordingly. Other business documents associated with these transactional records, such as source documents, accounting records and schedules and bank statements, should be retained as well.