Receipt Scanning: Paper vs Digital

Good news: the CRA accepts digital copies of receipts. You don't need to keep a shoebox of paper. But there are rules.

The CRA requires that digital copies be "a clear and readable image of the original document." That means: legible text, correct orientation, complete (not cropped). A blurry phone photo taken at an angle doesn't cut it.

Best practice: scan or photograph the receipt as soon as you get it. Thermal paper (the kind most stores use) fades within months. If you wait until tax time, the receipt may be blank.

norabooks' receipt scanner uses OCR to extract the vendor, amount, date, and tax from your photo. It stores the original image alongside the extracted data. If the CRA ever asks, you have both the image and the structured data.

How long to keep receipts? The CRA requires you to keep supporting documents for 6 years from the end of the tax year. Digital storage makes this trivial. Paper storage makes it a fire hazard.

One last tip: match every receipt to an expense. An unmatched receipt is just a photo. An unmatched expense is an unsubstantiated deduction. norabooks links them automatically when you scan.