Your responsibilities and the requirements associated with records the law requires you to keep
On this page, you will find information on the following:
Your responsibilities associated with records you must keep
According to the law, you are responsible for:
- protecting your records, even if you hire a third-party to hold them for you
- making your records and supporting documents available to the CRA when it asks for them (the CRA might inspect, audit or examine your records, as well as your processes and property)
- making sure that you, your employees or your third-party record keeper is present when CRA officials examine your records at the address where you keep them
- making sure that your representative is cooperating with the examination by providing reasonable assistance and answering questions about your business
- allowing CRA officials to make copies, or giving them copies, of any records they need
We recommend that you tell the CRA about any third-party changes that might affect your records (for example, if you transfer your records to another third party).
Requirements that all records must satisfy
Your records must:
- be reliable and complete
- include the information needed to meet your tax obligations and to calculate your credits
- be supported by documents
- be kept in English, French or a combination of these two languages
Other requirements for electronic records
For electronic records, also make sure:
- they are supported and maintained by a system capable of producing records that are accessible to CRA officials and readable by CRA software, even if you have paper copies of them or if you transferred them to another medium, such as microfilm or scanned image
- you always store proper backup copies, preferably at a site in Canada other than your business location
Note
Registered charities, registered Canadian amateur athletic associations and other qualified donees (for a list, see Qualified donees) must store their backup copies at a location in Canada.
They must also:
- remain accessible to CRA officials and readable by CRA software after any changes to your operating or electronic business systems
- be available for inspection by the CRA when requested
- be accounted for, if any get lost, destroyed or damaged, report them missing, and they must be recreated within a reasonable time frame. Tell the CRA by calling 1-800-959-5525
- be decrypted if they are encrypted and produced in an electronic format accessible to CRA officials and readable by CRA software
Note
The CRA can access electronic records created in most standard electronic formats. For more information on these formats, see Information Circular IC05-1, Electronic Record Keeping.
Information you must keep about Internet-based transactions
If you use the Internet while carrying on your business, you are responsible for keeping information about your Internet-based transactions in your records. This information can be produced either:
- during transaction processing, for example, as a web log or emails to confirm a sale
- as a result of security measures to preserve the authenticity and integrity of a record, for example, as an electronic signature
You are responsible for making the information about these transactions available when the CRA asks for it, even if your business or organization uses the services of any of the following for certain aspects of these transactions:
- transaction managers
- application service providers
- other agents
Keep this information or a copy of this information in your records since third parties may not keep the information for the period required by law.
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