Custom app for receipts and documents with a retention obligation
Scanning paper can replace the original, but only if the digital copy is a correct and complete representation. That is not an abstract requirement: it concerns the photo someone takes with their phone of a crumpled receipt on the passenger seat, and whether that photo will still be legible in seven years.
Why the moment of capture matters
The statutory retention period for tax records is seven years, and ten years for records relating to immovable property. Anyone digitising paper may discard the original, provided the digital version is accurate and complete. That digital version then falls under the same retention period itself and must be retrievable within a reasonable time.
In practice, this is where it goes wrong. A receipt that only comes out of a coat pocket at the end of the month has faded, torn or been lost. A photo taken at an angle and in poor light is not a complete representation. And a receipt that ends up as a loose image in a group chat is not bookkeeping, it is a message.
Moreover, a receipt contains more than an amount. For VAT, the supplier, the VAT number, the date and the itemised amounts all matter. If only the total is transcribed, you are left with a figure that lacks the supporting detail, and that detail is precisely what is requested during an audit.
For the people collecting the receipts, all of this is secondary. They are on the move, wearing gloves or standing at a counter. An app that requires more than a few steps will be skipped, and then paper is back to being the bookkeeping.
How we build this
The essence is capturing the receipt while it is still in someone's hand. Everything that happens afterwards is simply processing what was recorded at that point.
A photo with time and location, taken while the receipt is still complete and legible.
The app checks whether the image is sharp and complete, and asks for a new capture if it is not.
Supplier, date, amount and VAT, as far as possible derived automatically and confirmed by the user.
The capture enters the system where the retention period is monitored and the entry is posted.
What the app does in practice
The capture alongside the receipt carries the whole process. What else you need depends on how many people submit receipts and on your accounting software.
Photographing with verification
Straightening, cropping and assessing whether the image is complete, because a partial receipt is not a representation of the original.
Reading data automatically
Supplier, date and amounts are suggested; the user confirms or corrects them.
Works without signal
On the go, in a car park or somewhere without coverage. The app works locally and synchronises as soon as there is a connection.
Attaching a receipt to a project
So that costs land in the right place straight away rather than being allocated afterwards.
Missing receipts made visible
A payment without a receipt is a gap in the supporting evidence. That should be visible for as long as it can still be resolved.
Evidence remains evidence
The original capture is kept alongside any edits, with time and person recorded.
Who we build for
Who submits receipts varies from company to company. Four situations.
Fitters and field service staff
They buy materials on the way and have the receipt in hand for five minutes before it disappears.
Drivers
Fuel, tolls and parking produce receipts that rarely make it back to the office.
International journeys and travel
Receipts in another language and currency call for capture at the time, because the context is gone later.
Administrators
They receive an envelope at the end of the month and have to turn it into a balanced set of accounts.
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Accounting packages get switched, cost categories change and VAT rates are revised. Fields, categories and integrations should be configurable and not hard-coded into the app.
Why Appfront
An incomplete photo is no record
The requirement is a correct and complete reproduction of the original. We build that check into the app, not into an after-the-fact review.
A receipt is only complete for a moment
Receipts that come out of a jacket pocket at the end of the month are often illegible. The right moment is at the till.
Capturing must be quicker than keeping
People pocket a receipt because it is faster. The app has to beat that, not match it.
We do not keep your books
The entry and the tax judgement stay with you and your accountant. We make sure the evidence holds up.
Security and privacy
Receipts reveal what your people bought and where, and therefore where they were. That calls for restraint: record what the accounts need and no more. We set access by role, show an employee their own submissions and finance the full picture, and log every view. What is stored locally on the device is encrypted and can be wiped remotely if a phone is lost.
For this subject, the reliability of the moment is the crux. A capture that was later replaced by a nicer photo is no longer a reproduction of the original during an inspection. We keep the original capture with time, place and person, even when synchronisation happens later, and any correction becomes a visible correction. How we handle security ourselves is set out in our information security policy.
Frequently asked questions about digitising receipts
Yes, provided the digital version is a correct and complete reproduction of the original. If you meet the conditions, you do not need to keep the paper. The digital version is then itself subject to the seven-year retention period, or ten years for immovable property.
Because a partial, skewed or blurred capture is not a complete reproduction. In an inspection, what can be read is what counts, and it has to still be readable seven years on. That is why the app checks the image at the moment of capture, rather than someone discovering the problem months later.
Almost always. Receipts arise at a till, in a car park or somewhere without coverage. The app works locally and synchronises once connectivity returns, preserving the original time.
Then there is a gap in the supporting evidence. It should be visible while it can still be resolved, for example by requesting a duplicate. Discovering missing receipts after the fact is the most expensive option.
Largely, yes. Supplier, date and amounts are proposed based on the text on the receipt, after which the user confirms. It is not fully automatic, and that is just as well: the confirmation is the moment an error gets noticed.
In the administration where the retention period is monitored and the entry is posted. We describe that side on our page about software for statutory retention requirements. See also our approach to building an app.
How many receipts is your office not getting?
Count the payments without a supporting receipt over one month. If there are more than a handful, the gap lies not in your bookkeeping but in the process leading up to it. We build this as a standalone app and as part of a broader app development project.