Keeping Invoices in Digital Format?

Most of the things I buy to resell, I buy off the internet. So many of the invoices for things I buy are in email form (it's amazing how many sellers don't bother to include a PayPal invoice or any other invoice in their orders).

I wonder: if I save the PayPal/eBay invoices in my email files, is there any need for me to print a hard copy? If I could avoid that step, that's great, as no need to waste ink/paper/time. But if I'm audited, would they frown upon these invoices kept only in my email files?

Thanks for any help.

Your best bet may be to get a PDF converter and "print" them to that converter and keep them in a separate folder, instead of having a million emails all over the place. It'll become nearly as unorganized as the old receipts a shoebox trick.

The IRS accepts electronic copies of receipts and can be very easy if you sort things by year and then a category. If they were looking for "X" expenses, you can look up "X" expenses in 2008 in that folder. In some sense, it makes things easier.

Some of the "old school" accountants and CPAs do not like this type of record keeping and would recommend having a hard copy just in case. I think your best bet may be to make a backup onto a different system (say a sever in another state). If disaster struck, it'd be nice to know your documents are somewhere. Much better than trying to recreate records and figuring out what the value of things were before a disaster.

Keep everything in digital format and throw away your printers.

For Jebus sake don't keep them in your email application though, do as Evan suggests - keep everything in a common open format, preferably digitally signed, and in a safe location.

For your regular receipts, say from Staples or wherever, you could also invest in "NeatReceipts" or a similar device that scans the receipts and stores it. I haven't used this device but am looking at purchasing one myself. (I still keep paper, but am looking to test the new waters.)

[adrian_in9@yaho]

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