There is no six year rule
Ask how long to keep business records and you will be told six years, by almost everybody, with confidence. It is wrong for the most common business type in the country, and it is wrong in the direction that gets records destroyed early.
There are four separate duties and they do not start from the same place:
- Sole trader, HMRC: five years after the 31 January submission deadline.
- Limited company, HMRC: six years from the end of the financial year.
- Limited company, Companies Act: three years from the date each record was made, or six for a plc.
- VAT: six years, or ten on the One Stop Shop.
Where more than one applies, the longest governs. That sounds obvious written down and it is not what happens in practice, because people find one rule, recognise themselves in it, and stop reading.
The clock starts at a deadline, not at a year end
This quietly costs sole traders ten months. gov.uk puts it precisely: you must keep your records for at least 5 years after the 31 January submission deadlineof the relevant tax year.
Your tax year ends 5 April. Your filing deadline is the following 31 January. The five years run from the January. So for the 2022 to 2023 tax year, which ended 5 April 2023 and was filed by 31 January 2024, the records are live until 31 January 2029.
Count five years off the April instead and you land on 5 April 2028, which is not the rule and is nearly ten months short.
The three year rule that will get you fined
Search this as a company director and you will find the three year figure, cited properly, with a section number attached. Companies Act 2006 section 388 really does require a private company to preserve its accounting records for three years from the date they are made.
Acting on it is the most dangerous mistake on this page.
The same records are also caught by HMRC's requirement to keep them six years from the end of the financial year they relate to. That period starts later than the Companies Act one and runs for twice as long. Shredding on the Companies Act date means you have complied with one duty and breached another, and the one you breached carries a £3,000 fine or disqualification as a director.
This is why this page shows you every clock you are on rather than one number. Knowing which duty is doing the work is what tells you what to do about the situation this tool never asked about.
The ten year rule almost nobody mentions
VAT records are six years. Unless you use the VAT One Stop Shop, or ever used the Mini One Stop Shop, in which case they are ten.
It is nearly double, and it catches exactly the sort of business that would never think to check: anybody selling downloads, subscriptions, online courses or other digital services to customers in the EU. If that has ever been you, even years ago under MOSS, the longer period applies to those records.
When there is no date at all
Two situations where the arithmetic stops being the question.
An open compliance check. While HMRC is looking into a return, you keep everything. The ordinary periods are simply not the relevant test, and destroying records inside a check is a materially worse problem than keeping them years too long. This tool gives no date while that is true, on purpose.
A long life asset. Records covering something expected to last more than six years have to be kept while you still have it. A van you still own in year eight still needs its purchase invoice, because the capital allowances position depends on it. The date this page shows for those is a floor, not an answer.
The practical answer
Keeping records is cheap. Not having them is not.
Where records cannot be replaced, HMRC's own guidance is to provide best estimates and flag them clearly as estimated or provisional. That is a real route and it works, and it also means the figures in your tax position end up being negotiated rather than evidenced.
A scanned invoice costs nothing to store for a decade. When in doubt, the boring answer of keeping everything longer than the longest rule requires has no downside worth the name.
Common questions
How long do I have to keep my business records?
It depends what you are, and there is no single number despite what almost every page on the subject says. A sole trader keeps records for five years after the 31 January submission deadline of the relevant tax year. A limited company keeps them for six years from the end of the financial year they relate to. VAT records are six years whatever your structure, and ten if you have used the One Stop Shop. If more than one applies to you, the longest one is your answer.
Does the five years run from the end of the tax year?
No. People commonly destroy records too early this way. gov.uk says it precisely: you must keep your records for at least 5 years after the 31 January submission deadline of the relevant tax year. The tax year ends on 5 April, the deadline is the following 31 January, and the five years run from the January. That is about ten months later than counting from the April, which is what most people do.
I read that a private company only has to keep records for three years
You did, it is true, and acting on it would be a mistake. Companies Act 2006 section 388 requires a private company to preserve its accounting records for three years from the date they are made, and six for a public company. But the same records are caught by HMRC's rule, which requires six years from the end of the financial year they relate to. That starts later and runs longer, so it governs. Destroy on the Companies Act date and you have satisfied one duty while breaching another, and the one you breached carries a £3,000 fine or disqualification as a director.
How long do I keep VAT records?
At least six years, and this applies whatever your business structure: VAT does not care whether you are a sole trader or a company. Little written about record keeping mentions the exception. If you use the VAT One Stop Shop, or ever used the Mini One Stop Shop, it is ten years. That catches any small business selling downloads, subscriptions or other digital services into the EU.
What if HMRC is investigating me?
Keep everything, and ignore every date on this page while that is true. Where HMRC has started a compliance check into your return, the ordinary retention periods stop being the relevant question entirely. Destroying records inside an open check is a very different and much worse problem than holding them longer than you needed to. This tool deliberately gives you no date at all while that box is ticked.
What if I have lost some records?
Give HMRC your best estimates, and tell them plainly which figures are estimated or provisional. That is HMRC's own guidance for records that genuinely cannot be replaced. It is a workable answer and a considerably worse conversation than simply having the paperwork, which is the practical argument for scanning things: storage costs nothing and the alternative is negotiating from a position of not knowing.
What happens if I do not keep them?
HMRC can fine you £3,000 for not keeping adequate accounting records, or seek to have you disqualified as a company director. The penalty is not really the point though. The point is that a compliance check without records means the figures get estimated by somebody who is not you.