- Keep all business records including income, expenses, bank and other goods and services tax (GST) records for five years (although some records need to be kept longer).
- Records must contain enough information to calculate and support amounts claimed on activity statements and tax returns.
- Business records need to include all cash, online, EFTPOS, bank statements, credit and debit card transactions.
- Check the tax invoices received for purchases that include GST are valid.
- Keep records that show when business purchases were used for private purposes – this will help work out the business portion that can be claimed as a deduction.
- Keep business records separate from personal records to avoid confusion.
- Take pictures of paper receipts to avoid faded records.
- Store a copy of all records electronically and have a backup system in place, where possible.
- If changes were made to the record keeping software used during the year, check that all information transferred over correctly.