About receipts

What to keep

Keep the proof of every business expense. For your bookkeeping and for VAT, an invoice in the name of your business is usually stronger than a plain till receipt. Feel free to ask at the till for an invoice with your company number.

Whether a photo or scan is enough, or whether you must also keep the paper original, depends on the rules for digital storage. Ask your accountant before you throw the paper away.

• The till receipt or invoice, with the date, the shop, what you bought and the VAT.
• The proof of payment if the receipt does not show it (a card payment, a bank transfer).
• A short note: for which client, which job or which activity.

How long to keep it

How long you must keep accounting records and invoices is set by law and can differ by type of document. You often hear different periods. Bon deliberately does not state a number as fact.

Ask your accountant, and read the official sources at the bottom of this page. We have not yet checked them for Bon; that is marked there too. Until then: do not throw anything away unless your accountant says so.

VAT on a till receipt

In Belgium you mainly see 21 %, 12 %, 6 % and 0 % on receipts. One receipt can have several rates: in the supermarket, food is often at 6 % and a bottle of wine at 21 %. That is why Bon lets you fill in per rate.

The amount on the receipt usually includes VAT. The VAT is inside it: amount × rate ÷ (100 + rate). In 121 euros at 21 %, 21 euros is VAT. A till sometimes rounds per line, which is why you can also type in the VAT from the receipt yourself.

Whether you may deduct that VAT depends on what you bought, what you use it for and whether you fall under the small business VAT exemption scheme. That is why Bon only shows an indication based on your own estimates.

Thermal paper fades

Most till receipts are printed on thermal paper: the till prints with heat, not ink. After a few months in your wallet, in the sun or next to the heating, the print is often grey or gone completely.

So take a photo on the day itself, ideally on a plain background and with enough light. Keep the paper flat, dark and cool, away from plastic sleeves with plasticisers.

An expense claim

If an employee or a volunteer pays for something with their own money for the business or the club, you pay it back on the basis of an expense claim with the receipts attached.

Bon checks the account number with the check digits (modulo 97) and creates a structured communication (+++…+++), so the repayment is easy to find on the bank statement.

Paying back actual costs is something different from a flat-rate volunteer allowance. Separate rules and limits apply to that: check with your accountant or your umbrella organisation.

What your accountant likes to receive

One ZIP per quarter with the list and all the receipts, so nobody has to go looking. The CSV opens in Excel with the right columns: date, supplier, type, payment method, total and, per rate, the base and the VAT.

1. Send the quarter on time, not on the last day.
2. Check the shoebox beforehand for anything still missing a photo or the VAT.
3. Note which client or activity an expense was for. That is usually the first question.