If your business participates in the sharing economy, you need to keep records of all related income and expenses, including:
- statements from digital platforms showing your income
- receipts of any expenses you want to claim deductions for (photo evidence is acceptable)
- logbooks and odometer readings.
Record keeping for motor vehicle expenses depends on the method you use to calculate your claim.
Sole traders can keep records by using the ATO app's myDeductions tool. For example, if you’re a ride-sourcing driver, you can:
- include income from ride-sourcing and record how much goods and services tax (GST) is included
- take a photo of receipts and enter details
- indicate that a percentage is for private use
- use the 'add trip' function to set up a logbook and record your trips.
How long you need to keep sharing economy records
Generally, you need to keep these records for five years from when you prepared or obtained the records, or when you completed the transactions the records relate to, whichever is later.
You should keep records long enough to cover the period of review (also known as the amendment period) for an assessment that uses information from the record.
Record keeping
Steps | Progress | |||||||||||||
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Record keeping overview |
10 mins | |||||||||||||
Tasks and tips |
6 mins | |||||||||||||
Starting your business records |
2 mins | |||||||||||||
Digital record keeping |
5 mins | |||||||||||||
Manual or paper record keeping |
2 mins | |||||||||||||
Banking records |
2 mins | |||||||||||||
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Income records |
3 mins | |||||||||||||
Accounting for private use of assets |
9 mins | |||||||||||||
Motor vehicle deductions records |
2 mins | |||||||||||||
Home-based business deductions records |
1 mins | |||||||||||||
Other deductions records |
1 mins | |||||||||||||
Stock and asset records |
5 mins | |||||||||||||
GST records |
1 mins | |||||||||||||
Employee records |
7 mins | |||||||||||||
Car fringe benefits records |
1 mins | |||||||||||||
Expense payment FBT records |
2 mins | |||||||||||||
Contractor records |
2 mins | |||||||||||||
Sharing economy records |
1 mins | |||||||||||||
Cryptocurrency records |
1 mins | |||||||||||||
Records for other taxes |
5 mins | |||||||||||||
Sole trader structure records |
4 mins | |||||||||||||
Partnership structure records |
3 mins | |||||||||||||
Company structure records |
3 mins | |||||||||||||
Trust structure records |
1 mins | |||||||||||||
Changing your business structure records |
1 mins | |||||||||||||
Selling or closing your business records |
2 mins | |||||||||||||
Related courses |
1 mins | |||||||||||||
Course Feedback |
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