Keeping your invoices

How long to keep an invoice

Every tax authority below expects you to keep copies of the invoices you send, and the receipts for what you spend, for some years after the tax year they belong to. These are the general rules; each page lists cases that need longer.

I keep every invoice for seven years after the end of the tax year it falls in. That covers the general rule in each country above, so I don't have to remember which one applies. If you file late, claim a bad debt, or are told by the tax office to keep something longer, check the source for your case.

Where online invoice generators keep your invoices

Online generators store what you make in one of two places, and it changes who holds your copy.

"Online" doesn't settle which one you are using. A tool that asks you to sign up is almost certainly the first kind. One that doesn't may be either, so read its privacy page for where invoices are saved and when they are sent anywhere.

Where this generator keeps them

The invoice generator here is the second kind. Invoices are saved in your browser, not in an account. The invoice is sent to our server only when you press Download PDF, so that the PDF can be made. It is held in memory for about a second, not written to disk, not recorded in logs, and not retained after the PDF is sent back. The privacy policy sets out the rest, including what our server logs do record.

That has consequences you should know before relying on it:

• Clearing your browser data deletes your invoices. So does a cleaning tool that clears site data.
• A private or incognito window forgets them when you close it.
• Another device or browser starts empty. Invoices made on your laptop are not on your phone.
• We can't recover them. We never had a copy.

So treat the editor as the place you make invoices, not the place you keep them. That is deliberate: a generator that holds your history is one you can't easily leave.

Keeping your own copy

Two kinds of copy are worth having, and the invoice generator makes both:

1. The PDF you sent. Press Download PDF and keep that file. It is the copy that matches what the client received, which is what a tax office asks to see.
2. An editable copy, if you want one. In Invoice history, Export saves an invoice as a JSON file. Import JSON opens it again in any browser, which is also how you move invoices to a new computer.

I'd keep the PDFs in one folder per tax year, named by invoice number so they sort in order, in a place that is backed up: a cloud drive, or an external disk you copy to regularly. A folder that lives only on one laptop has the same weakness as browser storage.

Keep the numbering unbroken across the year, so your folder shows no gaps you can't explain. The guide to invoice numbering covers schemes that hold up.

When a folder of PDFs is not enough

A folder of invoices is your copy of what you sent. It is not your bookkeeping. In the UK, HMRC's VAT Notice 700/21 says that VAT-registered businesses "must keep and preserve certain records digitally" in compatible software, under Making Tax Digital. If that applies to you, each invoice also needs to be entered in that software. The PDF stays as the evidence behind the entry.

The same is true anywhere you use bookkeeping software or an accountant: record the sale there, and keep the PDF as the document that backs it.

On a shared or public computer

Anyone who opens the generator in the same browser profile can see the invoices saved there. When you are done on a computer that isn't yours, download what you need, then open Invoice history and press Delete everything. That removes every invoice and anything else this site has stored in that browser.