What Are the CRA’s Requirements for Electronic Records?

In an increasingly paperless world we live, many of the people who come to us for tax accounting in Toronto want to know what types of electronic records are acceptable for the Canada Revenue Agency.

The Canada Revenue Agency does allow electronic records, as long as they meet the same standards and criteria as paper ones.

Your records need to:

• Be reliable and complete
• Provide you with the correct information you need to assist you in fulfilling your tax obligations and to calculate the credits you are entitled to
• Be substantiated by supporting documents to verify the information contained in the records

You also need to include other documents, such as appointment books, logbooks, income tax and GST/HST returns, scientific research and experimental development (SR&ED) vouchers and records, and certain accountant’s working papers, that assist in determining your obligations and entitlements.

Also, your electronic records need to be:

• In an accessible format: The CRA can process electronic records on most industry standard file formats.
• In an electronically readable format: If requested by CRA officials, you must be able to decrypt or unlock password-protected records

If you have any questions about what types of records to keep for tax accounting, please don’t hesitate to contact our Toronto office at any time.