How long to keep accounting records in the UK

In short It depends on whose records they are and which law asks for them. Company law, the tax rules and the money laundering rules each set their own period, so it makes sense to take the longest that applies to each kind of record and write it down.

Updated 7 October 2026

Start with whose records they are

An accountancy practice looks after two kinds of record: its clients’ books and returns, and its own files about each client, such as working papers and the checks it ran when it took the client on. Different rules apply to each.

This guide covers the main UK rules. It’s general information, not legal or tax advice, and your professional body’s guidance and your own judgement decide the final periods.

Company accounting records

Every company must keep adequate accounting records (Companies Act 2006, section 386). Section 388 then says how long they must be preserved, counted from the date each record is made:

three years for a private company (section 388(4)(a))
six years for a public company (section 388(4)(b))

Those are the company law minimums, and the tax rules below can ask for longer.

What the tax rules ask

The tax rules set their own periods for the records behind each return:

A company that may have to deliver a Company Tax Return must preserve its records until the sixth anniversary of the end of the period the return covers, or an earlier date HMRC specifies, and for longer while an enquiry into the return is open (Finance Act 1998, Schedule 18, paragraph 21).
Someone in business on their own or in partnership must preserve their records until the fifth anniversary of the 31 January after the tax year. For other taxpayers it’s the first anniversary (Taxes Management Act 1970, section 12B).
A VAT-registered business must preserve its VAT records for the period HMRC specifies in writing, which can’t be more than six years (Value Added Tax Act 1994, Schedule 11, paragraph 6).

One record can fall under several of these rules. A company’s VAT invoices are also its accounting records, so they stay for whichever period ends last.

Your own files about each client

If your practice is supervised under the money laundering rules, your customer due diligence records must stay for five years from when you know, or have reasonable grounds to believe, that the business relationship has ended (Money Laundering Regulations 2017, regulation 40).

Once that period is over, the same regulation says the personal data you gathered for those checks has to go, unless another law requires you to retain it, the person has agreed, or it’s needed for legal proceedings.

For working papers and correspondence, no law sets a period. Your professional body’s guidance is the place to start, along with the six years a client has to bring a claim in contract under section 5 of the Limitation Act 1980.

Making it work in practice

Give each kind of record its own period, and say what it counts from: the date the record was made, the end of the accounting period, the end of the tax year or the end of the client relationship.

Write down the reason for each period next to it, so a reviewer can see where it came from, and look at the list again when the rules change.

How folio will help

In folio, you’ll make a retention class for each kind of record, with its period and the date it counts from, and each client’s year will be filed together in its own folder.

If HMRC opens an enquiry, you’ll be able to place a hold on that client’s records, and nothing under it will be disposed of until two people release it.

The accountants page shows how a day with folio will look.

Sources

This guide is general information, not legal advice. The figures come from the legislation linked above as it stood when we last checked it, and how long you keep each kind of record is your professional judgement.

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