How long do I have to keep my business records?
Generally six years from the end of the last tax year the records relate to — and some corporate records must be kept until two years after the corporation is dissolved.
The base rule: keep business records for six years from the end of the last tax year they relate to. For a corporation with a June year-end, records for that year start their six-year clock at that year-end — so in practice you are often holding seven-plus calendar years of paper or files.
The exceptions that extend it
File a return late and the clock runs from the filing date. Some corporate records — minute books, share registers, certain capital-asset history — should be kept until two years after dissolution. And anything under objection or appeal stays until the dispute ends.
Digital counts
CRA accepts electronic records, provided they are accessible and readable. Bank-feed bookkeeping helps here: the transaction history, categorizations, and reports are all retrievable without a basement of boxes.
What to keep, in what form, and where
CRA generally accepts electronic records, and scanned copies are usually fine provided they are complete, legible, and retrievable for the full retention period — which in practice means a real backup, not one laptop. Records generally have to be kept in Canada, or be accessible from Canada, unless CRA has given permission otherwise. Cloud accounting is compatible with this as long as you can actually produce the records on request.
The list worth holding deliberately: general ledgers and journals, sales and purchase invoices, bank and credit card statements, payroll records and filed slips, HST working papers, contracts and leases, and capital asset purchase and disposal records. That last one matters longer than six years, because you may need the original cost history to compute a gain on an asset you sell a decade later. Destroying records early is the version of this rule that costs money — CRA can disallow a deduction you cannot support, and a request for permission to destroy records early is available if you genuinely need it.
This is general information, not tax advice for your situation. Get started and a Canadian accountant will give you the answer for your business.
Common questions
Can I throw records out early if I close the business?
Not automatically — destroying records early generally requires CRA's written permission, and key corporate records outlive the corporation by two years. Wind-downs deserve an accountant's checklist.
Are photos or scans of documents good enough for CRA?
Generally yes, if they are complete, legible, and producible on request. The standard is that CRA can verify what happened — format matters less than accessibility.
Can I keep my business records digitally?
Generally yes. CRA accepts electronic records, including scans of paper documents, provided they are complete, legible, and retrievable for the whole retention period. Records generally must be kept in Canada or be accessible from Canada unless CRA permits otherwise, so a cloud system you can produce records from is fine — a single unbacked-up laptop is not.
What happens if I destroy records too early?
You lose the ability to support what you claimed, and CRA can disallow deductions or credits you cannot substantiate — which turns a filed return into an assessment years later. If you have a genuine reason to destroy records before the retention period ends, there is a process to request permission rather than deciding unilaterally.
Primary sources
Retention matters because of the reassessment window. See the Notice of Assessment guide.