Where to keep your records, for how long and how to request the permission to destroy them early

You must keep records at your place of business or your residence in Canada, unless the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) gives you written permission to keep them elsewhere.

Note

Records kept outside of Canada and accessed electronically from Canada are not considered to be records kept in Canada.

The CRA will not give permission to keep records outside of Canada to:

• registered charities
• registered Canadian amateur athletic associations
• Canadian municipalities
• public bodies performing a function of government
• housing corporations resident of Canada and exempt from tax under Part 1 of the Income Tax Act

For permission to keep records elsewhere, write to your tax services office. After reviewing your situation, the CRA will provide to you written permission. The CRA 's written permission will specify any terms and conditions.

If the CRA gives you permission to keep your records outside of Canada, you must make them available upon request in Canada for review by the CRA .

The CRA may give permission for you to keep your electronic records outside of Canada. If so, the CRA may accept copies if:

• the CRA is satisfied that the copies of the records are true copies
• they are made available to CRA officials in Canada in an electronic format readable by CRA software
• they show enough details to support the returns filed with the CRA

If you keep your records on servers located outside Canada, you must access the servers or arrange for your staff to access the servers and provide the electronic system records required by CRA officials.

How long to keep your records

Generally, you must keep all required records and supporting documents for a period of six years from the end of the last tax year they relate to.

• is the fiscal period for corporations
• is the calendar year for individuals
• varies for trusts based on the type (for more information on trusts, including the tax year for each type, go to Trust income tax)

The rules for the record retention period are similar under the following legislations:

• the Income Tax Act
• the Excise Tax Act (includes the GST/HST )
• the Employment Insurance Act
• the Canada Pension Plan
• the Excise Act, 2001
• the Air Travellers Security Charge Act

In some situations, you must retain your records for a different period of time. Below is a list of these situations, as well as the retention periods that apply to each of them:

• When your records and supporting documents concern long-term acquisitions and disposal of property, the share registry, or other historical information that would have an effect on the sale, liquidation or wind‑up of the business, you have to keep them indefinitely.
• If the CRA wants you to keep records for a period longer than six years, a CRA official will let you know how long to keep them either in person or by registered mail.
• If you file an income tax return late, you must keep your records for six years from the date you file that return.
• If you have not filed a GST/HST return for a reporting period that ended more than six years ago, you are still required to file the return and retain the records to support the amounts reported on the return. The six-year period for keeping GST/HST records generally begins after the last year when a record may be required for GST/HST reporting purposes.
• If you issue a tax adjustment note for GST/HST to a pension entity, you must keep the related records for six years from the day you issued the tax adjustment note.
• If you filed an objection or an appeal, you must keep all necessary records until the latest of the following dates:
  • the date the objection or appeal is resolved
  • the date for filing any further appeal has passed
  • the six-year record keeping period has passed
  • all records and supporting documents to verify its tax obligations and entitlements
  • all other records that corporations have to keep

  Notes

  To ask for a clearance certificate, fill out Form TX19, Asking for a Clearance Certificate, and send it to your tax services office.

  To ask for a clearance certificate for GST/HST registrants, fill out Form GST352, Application for Clearance Certificate (under section 270 of the Excise Tax Act), and send it to your tax services office.

  • When you are a registered qualified donee, you must keep donation receipt duplicates for two years from the end of the calendar year in which you received the donations.
  • A registered charity or a registered Canadian amateur athletic association may have its registration revoked. If this happens, the organization has to keep all records and supporting documents including the other records that registered charities and registered Canadian amateur athletic associations have to keep for two years after the date the CRA revoked the registration.
  • A registered charity that is incorporated is required to keep its records for two years after it is dissolved. It must keep general ledgers containing summaries of year-to-year transactions of the business of a person other than the corporation, and related contracts, for six years from the end of the last tax year they relate to. An incorporated charity may continue to exist as a non-profit organization after its registration has been revoked and therefore would have to keep certain records until after it is dissolved.
  • When you are a registered agent for a registered political party or an official agent for a candidate in a federal election, you have to keep records that fully support the contributions received and the expenditures made. You have to keep them until the day that is two years after the end of the last calendar year they relate to. For more information, see Information Circular IC75-2, Contributions to a Registered Party, a Registered Association or to a Candidate at a Federal Election.

  How to request the permission to destroy your records before the end of their retention period

  If you want to destroy your books of account and records earlier than the retention period specified in How long to keep your records, you first must get written permission from the CRA .

  To get this permission, you or your authorized representatives can do either of the following:

  • fill in Form T137, Request for Destruction of Records
  • apply in writing to your tax services office

  If you destroy paper or electronic records without the CRA 's permission, you may be prosecuted.

  The CRA 's permission only applies to records you have to keep under legislation it administers. The CRA is not authorized to approve the destruction of records you have to keep under other federal, provincial, territorial or municipal laws.

  Note

  If your records were destroyed by a disaster, go to Managing your tax affairs during or after a disaster.