Your year-end receipt package for your accountant: self-employed in Canada and the US
Short answer: scan receipts as they happen, put each one in a category (Vehicle, Tools, Home Office — whatever your accountant asks for), and once a year export the date range for CSV (for their software) or PDF (a summary plus every receipt image, ready for audits). ReceiptIQ AI does the scanning, categorizing and exporting; your accountant still decides what's deductible and files the return.
This page is a plain-language summary, not tax advice. Confirm what applies to your situation with your accountant. Facts below are linked to the CRA's and IRS's own pages.
What your accountant needs at year end
However you keep receipts today, an accountant working on a sole-proprietor return usually wants the same three things:
- A dated list of expenses, by category. Not a shoebox — a list they can total and check against your bank statement.
- The tax paid on each purchase, if you're GST/HST-registered and claiming input tax credits.
- The receipt image, on request. Most won't ask for every one, but if something looks unusual (or the return is later reviewed), they need to be able to point to the actual receipt, not just a total.
ReceiptIQ AI photographs each receipt, reads every line item and its price, and lets you put a category on the receipt. Settings → Your Data → Data Export then lets you pick a date range and, optionally, one category, and produces:
- CSV — a summary block (receipt count, Total Expenses, Total Tax, Total Tips), then one row per receipt: ID, Date, Added Date, Description (store), Category, Amount, Type, Recurrence, Address, Currency, Original Amount, Exchange Rate.
- PDF report — a summary table plus every scanned receipt photo on its own page, ready for audits. (Photos appear in the PDF only if "Keep Receipt Images" is turned on in Settings.)
Export is a premium feature ($1.99/month or $14.99/year USD — the App Store shows the price in your own currency; the first 30 receipts are free to try the rest of the app with no account).
Canada: T2125, GST/HST, and six years
Sole proprietors report business income and expenses on form T2125, Statement of Business or Professional Activities. The CRA is direct about the records behind it: "You are required by law to keep records of all your transactions to be able to support your income and expense claims," and generally "for a minimum of six years from the end of the last tax year to which they relate." (CRA: keeping business records, CRA: how long to keep records.)
If a seller doesn't give you a receipt, the CRA's answer isn't "don't claim it" — it's to write down the seller's name and address, the amount paid, the date and the details of the purchase in your expense journal.
If you're GST/HST-registered, the GST/HST you paid on business purchases is what you claim back as input tax credits, so the tax amount on each receipt matters as much as the total. ReceiptIQ AI recognizes GST/HST/PST/QST lines and totals them into "Total Tax" on export; see the CRA's page on input tax credits for the eligibility rules — that part is between you and your accountant.
United States: Schedule C, and three years
Self-employed people report business income and expenses on Schedule C (Form 1040), Profit or Loss from Business. For how long to keep the records behind it, the IRS's general rule is: keep records for 3 years, unless one of several specific situations applies (for example, longer periods for unreported income over 25% of gross income, or claims for a bad debt or worthless securities). See the IRS's own page, "How long should I keep records?" for the exceptions that might apply to you.
A 10-minute routine that produces the package on its own
| When | What you do |
|---|---|
| At the register | Scan the receipt with ReceiptIQ AI. The store, date, line items and total are read automatically. |
| Right after | Pick (or confirm) the category — "Vehicle", "Tools", "Home Office", or whatever your accountant uses. Each item on a receipt can carry its own category if one receipt covers more than one kind of expense. |
| Once a year | Settings → Your Data → Data Export. Pick the tax year as the date range, export CSV for your accountant's software and, if they (or you) want the images, the PDF report too. |
Nothing about this changes at tax time — the export is a report over receipts you already scanned and categorized all year, not a project you start in April.
What ReceiptIQ AI doesn't do
It's a receipt scanner, not tax software or a bookkeeper. It doesn't file your T2125 or Schedule C, calculate your GST/HST net tax or your deduction eligibility, track mileage, or connect to your bank — only extracted receipt text ever leaves your iPhone, and there's no account to set up. Your accountant (or tax software) still does the actual return; this is the input they need, organized before it reaches them.
Frequently asked questions
What does my accountant actually need from my receipts at year end? A dated, categorized list of your business expenses with amounts (and the GST/HST portion, if you're registered), plus the receipt images if they want to check anything. A CSV covers the list; the PDF report adds a summary table and every receipt image on its own page.
How long do I need to keep business receipts in Canada? The CRA says to keep records for six years from the end of the last tax year they relate to.
How long do I need to keep business receipts in the US? The IRS's general rule is 3 years from when you filed, longer in specific situations — see the IRS page linked above.
Does ReceiptIQ AI file my T2125 or Schedule C for me? No. It scans, categorizes and exports; filing the return and deciding what's deductible is your accountant's or tax software's job.
For a broader freelancer expense-tracking guide, see our complete guide to receipt scanning for freelancers. For the general question of whether a photo counts as a record at all, see are photos of receipts acceptable for taxes?
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