Can I deduct expenses without receipts?

That is a question for your CPA, and the answer depends on the expense. Travel, meals, gifts and large purchases need the most support. We build the books; we do not decide what is deductible.

Is a bank statement enough proof?

A statement proves you paid, how much and when. It does not prove what for. For many everyday expenses the statement plus the business purpose is what a preparer works from; for the expenses above, keep or rebuild the receipt.

How long should I keep receipts?

The IRS says generally three years from when you filed the return, and longer in some cases: six years if income left off the return was more than 25% of the income reported, and, for property such as equipment, until that period runs out for the year you sell or dispose of it. Its page How long should I keep records? lists the cases.

Can you build the books with no receipts at all?

Yes. The books come from the statements, not the receipts. Lines that need more detail become questions to you, and anything still unclear stays open on the review page.

Lost receipts? How the books still get done

The short answer

Yes, for the books. Every payment you made by card, check or transfer is on a bank or card statement, and a year of books can be built from those. What lost receipts take away is the detail of what each payment was for. That detail matters for some expenses more than others, and much of it can be found again.

What a statement proves, and what it does not

A statement proves the date, the amount and, for most card and ACH lines, who was paid. It does not show what was bought or the business reason for it. A charge at an office supply store is almost certainly supplies. A charge at a warehouse club, an online marketplace or a restaurant could be several things, and that is where a receipt, or a note of the business purpose, does the work.

Which receipts matter most

If you can only find or rebuild some of them, start with these:

Travel: flights, hotels, car rental.
Meals and entertainment, with who was there and why.
Gifts to clients or staff.
Large purchases: equipment, vehicles, computers, anything you might depreciate.
Anything bought at a store that sells everything, where the name alone does not say whether it was for the business.

Ask your CPA what they would want to see if the return were ever examined. That is their call, not ours, and it depends on your situation.

How to rebuild what is missing

Email. Search your inbox for "receipt", "order" and "invoice". Most online purchases sent one.
Vendor accounts. Amazon, Home Depot, Costco, Staples and most suppliers keep your order history online, often for years, with printable invoices.
Card and bank portals. Some card issuers show itemized detail for certain merchants, and every bank can send past statements.
Vendor statements. A regular supplier can send a statement of everything you bought from them in the year.
Your own note. Where nothing else exists, write the business purpose next to the line, now, while you still remember it.

How Return Ready handles it

The books are built from your statements. Most lines are posted from the name on them. A line that could be more than one thing becomes a plain question to you, with the answers as choices. A line nobody can answer is not guessed: it stays open, by name, on the review page your accountant sees. Nothing is invented to make the year look finished. See what a statement can and cannot show.

A worked example

The figures here are made up, to show the shape. A contractor, one year behind, one checking account and one card. The receipts lived in the truck's glovebox and most of them are gone. The lumber yard, the fuel stations, the phone bill and the insurance post from the statement alone. The supplier sends a year-end statement for the materials. Order history covers the tools bought online. What is left is a few warehouse-club charges and a couple of restaurant lines, which become questions; the contractor answers most of them and writes the purpose next to the meals. Two lines nobody remembers stay open on the review page for the CPA to decide.

What you get back

A profit and loss, a balance sheet, a trial balance and a general ledger, reviewed by an accountant before they go out, plus a QuickBooks import file and an Excel workbook. It costs $699 per business per year of books. We do not file the return; your CPA does, from these. See pricing, or read what to do if you are behind and what your CPA needs.

Questions people ask

Can I deduct expenses without receipts?: That is a question for your CPA, and the answer depends on the expense. Travel, meals, gifts and large purchases need the most support. We build the books; we do not decide what is deductible.
Is a bank statement enough proof?: A statement proves you paid, how much and when. It does not prove what for. For many everyday expenses the statement plus the business purpose is what a preparer works from; for the expenses above, keep or rebuild the receipt.
How long should I keep receipts?: The IRS says generally three years from when you filed the return, and longer in some cases: six years if income left off the return was more than 25% of the income reported, and, for property such as equipment, until that period runs out for the year you sell or dispose of it. Its page How long should I keep records? lists the cases.
Can you build the books with no receipts at all?: Yes. The books come from the statements, not the receipts. Lines that need more detail become questions to you, and anything still unclear stays open on the review page.

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We do not file your returns. We make them fileable.