As tax season approaches, stress starts to creep up on business owners.

Preparations can be taxing, often involving numerous steps. This includes double-checking accounting records, going over tax claims to make sure the final numbers are correct, and sorting through piles of receipts that they’ve hung onto to submit to the IRS.

If you’re looking to streamline this process by digitizing your receipts, you may be wondering—will the IRS accept your receipt scans? Can receipt scans legally support your tax write-offs and tax deductible expenses, the same as original paper receipts? 

The quick answer to your worries: Receipt scans are 100% legitimate and approved by the IRS. In fact, the IRS has accepted scanned and digitized receipts as valid tax records for tax purposes since 1997!

However, scanned receipts must meet certain requirements to be eligible. 

Read on to find out if your receipt scans have met all of the IRS’s requirements. 

What are the requirements for a receipt scan to be accepted by the IRS?  

According to the IRS, digital or scanned receipts must meet the following requirements:

  • Receipt scans are completely identical to their original versions.
  • Each receipt scan must exhibit a high degree of legibility and readability. 
  • You must be able to provide hard copies (PDF printouts) of the receipt scans in the event of an IRS audit.
  • Scanned documents must be stored in a secure place.

If you can ensure your receipt scans are properly stored and backed up, and you can reproduce hard copies from them in a legible, readable format, you may dispose of the original receipts. 

Source: “Rev. Proc. 97-22 (Recordkeeping – Electronic Storage System),” IRS.gov. 

What is the most effective way to scan your receipts? 

If you’re looking for an easy and convenient way to scan your receipts, Shoeboxed is what you need. Since 2007, Shoeboxed has helped many accountants, freelancers, and businesses scan, digitize, and store their receipts safely in the cloud.

Simply scan your receipts with your phone with just a click, and perfect digital versions of your paper receipts will appear in your Shoeboxed receipt tracker app!

On top of that, Shoeboxed extracts, categorizes, and human-verifies important data from your receipts so that you can go over and check your records anytime with ease. 

Turn receipts into data and deductibles with Shoeboxed!

Too many receipts and too little time to deal with them? Send your piles of documents using the postage pre-paid Shoeboxed Magic Envelope, and the Shoeboxed team will take care of the rest. Sit back, and let someone else do the tedious job of transforming your receipts into organized digital data.  

The Magic Envelope Service
Outsource your receipt scanning to Shoeboxed!

Quick, reliable, and trustworthy, Shoeboxed guarantees that the digital versions of your receipts are in precise format, audit-ready, and accepted by the IRS in the event of an audit.

Try Shoeboxed right now and get 25% off all plans! 

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Originally published on April 13, 2022. Updated on February 7, 2023.

About Shoeboxed!

Shoeboxed supports multiple methods for receipt capture: send, scan, upload, forward, and more!

You can stuff your receipts into one of our Magic Envelopes (prepaid postage in the US). Use our Shoeboxed app to snap a picture while on the go. Auto-import receipts from Gmail. Or forward a receipt to your designated Shoeboxed email account.

Turn your receipts into data and deductibles with our expense reports that include IRS-accepted receipt images.

Join over 1 million businesses scanning & organizing receipts, creating expense reports and more—with Shoeboxed.

Try Shoeboxed for free today!