Key Takeaways
- Retention periods depend on whether records support company accounts, corporate income tax, or GST.
- Non-GST-registered businesses must also keep records.
- Electronic storage must meet IRAS requirements.
- Choose a provider with suitable experience, clear deliverables, and reliable access to your records.
Accounting records help business owners understand where money comes from, how it is spent, and whether the business can meet its obligations. They also provide evidence behind financial statements and tax filings.
For Singapore companies, effective record keeping requires more than saving documents for a fixed number of years. Businesses should identify the applicable retention deadline, preserve supporting evidence, and ensure that records remain accessible when needed.
What Is Accounting Record Keeping in Singapore?
Accounting record keeping is the organised maintenance of documents and entries that explain a business’s transactions and financial position. It includes invoices, receipts, ledgers, schedules, and supporting evidence. Singapore companies must maintain records that support the preparation of true and fair financial statements and allow those records to be properly audited.
Why Do Businesses Need Proper Records?
A useful accounting system connects each recorded transaction to evidence that explains it. This makes it easier to investigate an unexpected payment, check an outstanding customer balance, or understand a change in operating costs.
Regular reviews can help management:
- Monitor cash flow and outstanding payments.
- Identify duplicate entries and unexplained transactions.
- Prepare budgets using consistent information.
- Answer questions from accountants, auditors, and tax advisers.
A practical approach is to organise documents as transactions occur and reconcile accounts regularly, instead of reconstructing a year’s activity shortly before filing.
Which Accounting Documents Should Be Retained?
According to IRAS’s record-keeping guide for non-GST-registered businesses, records include source documents, accounting ledgers, schedules, journals, and other written transaction evidence. These obligations also cover transactions processed through electronic payment services and online platforms.
Maintain an organised collection of:
- Sales evidence: invoices, receipts, and credit notes.
- Purchase evidence: supplier invoices, receipts, and payment vouchers.
- Banking records: statements and supporting payment information.
- Accounting records: ledgers, journals, and relevant schedules.
- Supporting agreements: contracts and other documents explaining transactions.
Keeping business records is compulsory even when a business is not registered for GST.
GST-registered businesses have additional requirements. These include retaining relevant tax invoices.
How Long Must Accounting Records Be Kept?
Different obligations use different starting points.
Accounting Record Retention Requirements
| Requirement | Minimum retention period | Starting point |
| Companies Act accounting records | Five years | End of the financial year in which the relevant transactions or operations are completed |
| Corporate income tax records | Five years from the relevant Year of Assessment | Relevant YA, following IRAS’s retention examples |
| GST records | Five years | End of the relevant GST accounting period |
The Companies Act and IRAS rules should be assessed separately. Where the same documents support several obligations, retain them until all applicable minimum periods have expired.
Official Retention Examples
IRAS’s published examples show that two different financial years falling within YA 2023 have the same corporate income tax record-retention deadline: 31 December 2027.
| Financial year | Year of Assessment | Keep records until |
| 1 January–31 December 2022 | YA 2023 | 31 December 2027 |
| 1 October 2021–30 September 2022 | YA 2023 | 31 December 2027 |
Source organisation: Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore. These are official deadline examples, rather than survey statistics.
Records After Company Dissolution
For a struck-off and dissolved company, someone who was an officer immediately before dissolution must ensure that its books and papers are retained for at least five years after dissolution. For a company being wound up, the liquidator must ensure retention for at least five years from dissolution.
What Are the Consequences of Non-Compliance?
Under section 199(6) of the Companies Act, default can expose the company and officers in default to a fine of up to S$10,000, imprisonment of up to 12 months, and a default penalty, as applicable.
Separately, IRAS states that inadequate records may lead to estimated revenue assessments, rejected expense or capital allowance claims, and disallowed GST input tax claims. Its guidance describes penalties of up to S$5,000, with imprisonment of up to six months in default of payment.
The imprisonment consequence described by IRAS should not be presented as an automatic outcome whenever a document is missing.
Where and How Should Records Be Stored?
Storage arrangements should make records easy to locate, protect them against damage or unauthorised changes, and support timely retrieval.
Where accounting records are kept outside Singapore, section 199(4) requires sufficient statements and returns to be sent to and maintained in Singapore, available for directors’ inspection, to enable the preparation of the required financial statements.
Paper Storage
Use a consistent filing system, such as folders arranged by year, document type, and transaction reference. Protect documents from water, fire, and unauthorised access.
A secure cabinet is a practical precaution. The choice of a particular cabinet, vault, or safe-deposit box should reflect the business’s needs.
Electronic storing
IRAS permits electronic records without prior approval when the applicable record-keeping requirements are satisfied. Scanning alone does not establish compliance: businesses should maintain controls supporting the integrity, completeness, accuracy, availability, and reliability of electronic records.
Recommended practices include clear file names, controlled access, backups, and periodic checks that archived documents can still be opened.
When changing accounting software, IRAS does not require old transactions to be migrated into the new system. However, the old records and associated documents must remain retained and retrievable throughout the applicable period.
What Factors Should You Consider When Choosing an Accounting and Bookkeeping Provider in Singapore?
Assess these factors before signing an engagement:
- Relevant experience: Look for experience with your industry, transaction volume, and reporting needs.
- Qualifications: Review the team’s training and credentials. ACRA states that general accounting and bookkeeping do not require public accountant registration; public accountancy services, including auditing and reporting on financial statements, do.
- Service scope: Confirm whether the fee includes reconciliations, financial statements, tax preparation, GST work, and historical corrections.
- Security and access: Ask about backups, access controls, document retrieval, and record handover when the engagement ends.
- Fees and communication: Agree on transaction limits, additional charges, reporting frequency, deadlines, and the person responsible for answering questions.
Request a written proposal explaining deliverables and responsibilities. Compare providers using the same scope so that price differences are meaningful.
Conclusion
A clear retention schedule and an organised filing process make accounting records more useful throughout the business year. Review storage arrangements whenever systems, staff, or service providers change.
For professional support, contact Premia TNC to discuss your company’s accounting and record-management needs.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can records be deleted after tax filing?
No. Filing does not end the applicable retention obligation.
Are electronic records acceptable?
Yes, provided they satisfy the relevant IRAS requirements and remain accessible.
Must a bookkeeper be an ACRA-registered public accountant?
No. General bookkeeping does not require PA registration. Auditing and other public accountancy services have different requirements.
