Anyone who has been audited will tell you that the CRA is obsessed with paper. You need the original receipt to prove an expense or nine times out of ten an auditor will deny your claim. So how does this fit with the new “go green” focus that many companies are now employing?
With e-bills and paperless bank statements, taxpayers have fewer hard records to leave a paper trail for the auditor to examine. Technology has a funny way of crashing right when you need it so unless you have all your online paperwork backed up, when the time comes you may be unable to access the valuable proof you need to claim your expenses. There is no word yet as to whether the CRA will take on the green challenge and accept online documentation. Generally, I have had trouble even with proving online banking transfers as the CRA question what exactly the payment relates to. Although logic says I probably wasn’t sending money to a hydro company for fun, without the bill showing the account and period the amount was for, it could cause trouble in an audit.
So a word of caution in this paperless age, save a tree and you may be digging yourself into a hole!
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