Retention of paperwork as a PDF

[raybarrow]

Hi Folks,
Clearing out time. I scan payslips, tax vouchers, P60 etc. I shred the last years payslips when I get the P60.
I know I am supposed to keep six years plus the current. As I have PDFs of all that stuff do I really need to keep the paper original as well? The PDFs are backed up in two separate places, so three digital copies in all.
What do other people do?
Ray.

[Darka]

I only keep the PDF's, I destroyed the paper copies long ago.

Didn't want the paper cluttering up my home and PDF's are good enough.

[mc2fool]

Hi Folks,
Clearing out time. I scan payslips, tax vouchers, P60 etc. I shred the last years payslips when I get the P60.
I know I am supposed to keep six years plus the current. As I have PDFs of all that stuff do I really need to keep the paper original as well? The PDFs are backed up in two separate places, so three digital copies in all.
What do other people do?
Ray.

"HMRC will investigate in detail and retrospectively based on the case and how serious it is. If they suspect deliberate tax evasion, they can investigate as far as 20 years. Investigations into careless tax returns can go back 6 years and investigations into innocent errors can go backup up to 4 years." https://taxqube.co.uk/how-far-back-can-hmrc-investigate/

Of course, you may think, well I haven't engaged in deliberate tax evasion, but if HMRC for some reason suspect you may have and want to go back up to 20 years, how are you going to prove you didn't if you don't have records going back that far? Remember, when it comes to taxes the law is guilty until proven innocent.

And it's not just HMRC: a few years ago when I was soon to reach the pension age for a company pension in deferment from some decades before and asked the scheme for details of what I'd get etc, I found the company had screwed up some 30 years previously on both contributions to the scheme and NICs, leaving me notably short for both. I didn't have all of the paperwork from the time (I thought I had but some must have got lost in a move at some point) but did manage to find enough to argue my case and get it all sorted out. So, I definitely recommend keeping anything and everything to do with pensions forever!

As for PDFs vs paper, I guess it depends on your available space, but payslips, tax vouchers, P60 etc don't take that much space, even after many years ... and it helps if you have a garage or attic to bung storage containers into ...

[JohnB]

I keep paper copies of statements my personal numbers on. Bills for 7 years, savings and investments forever. I chuck introductory pages, advice guides etc. Its still only 4-5 lever arch files after 40 years. Still much easier to flip through than PDFs.