You should digitize your tax documents

Why Digitize?

While paper documents were preferred by the CRA for many years, they have since opened up the opportunity to submit documents through their website, which means they will accept digital copies. Please refer to the following CRA article

We recommend digitizing all tax documents:

a.   they can be stored more easily on your computer hard drive or in cloud storage. You are required to keep all documents for a minimum of 7 years

b.   you can access them more easily, provided that you took the trouble to organize the files when digitizing the documents

c.   there is little to no risk of losing the documents due to fading thermal receipts, or packing them in a box that cannot be found later, or just losing them in a move, for example

When requesting Focused Tax Services to prepare your tax return(s), you can either send us these digitized copies by email or through eCourier. We prefer that you present us with totals for each expense category, which makes it easier for us to prepare your tax returns and less expensive for you.

How to Digitize your Receipts and Other Supporting Documents

We recommend digitizing the documents using one or more of the following procedures:

  • Using a dedicated scanner, such as a Fujistu Scansnap, or Epson Workforce
  • Using the scanning feature on your multi-function printer
  • Taking pictures of each document with your smart phone
  • Scanning the documents using scanning apps available for iPhones and Android smartphones
  • Using dedicated software such as Receipt Bank or HubDoc, which can export the receipt and its information to online accounting packages, as referred to in the next point
  • Using the features within the various online accounting software to organize and even total the receipts . Online accounting software includes QuickBooks Online, Xero, Sage One and others