Faded Reciepts?

was scavanging through some old files and found a box of reciepts that I had claimed a decent chunk for tax, mostly petrol, and a few Jb hifi recipets for a pc if I recall,

I grabbed one and realised that pretty much all of them had faded into blank sheets of paper!

from a legal/accounting/ato perspective,

can I get into trouble if I ever got audited?

 

Tell 'em you bought them from Bansky

 

@Simon Hampel didn't you have an app that you use to scan in receipts?

 

Yes because you may not be able to prove things.

 

Thermal receipts fade with contact with themselves or plastic. And Quickly too. Stored in a car glovebox or console, floor etc they can also go black on a warm day. The ATO have a deduction app and it specifically recommends use of it for that reason !!. BUT I dont recommend it. Because the ATO have access to the app......eg Your app has receipts for $1K, You claim $1500...ATO asks why. Thats intrusive in my view. Why share all your data with them that way ?

Instead use a cloud storage like google drive, dropbox and then take images and file. Loads of apps too eg Squirrel etc

 

I photocopy all my receipts ASAP and then store away in my relevant folders until tax time.
Apps are not my thing...

 

There are a couple of ways that I have heard of that may help...
- You could scan them, then use image manipulation software to alter the image to see if you could read it. The simplest will be just to crank up the contrast, but with proper photo editing software you may find better ways.
- I have heard of people heating up the faded receipt and getting a reverse image of what was originally there. This could be done with a hairdryer, an iron through a cloth or towel, or a laminating machine (between pieces of paper).

I would suggest trying on some that are not important (or letting your grocery receipt fade and trying that) before working on your critical ones.

Of course, if you do manage to retrieve the information, you will need to scan and save it as you won't get a third chance.

 

Like many here and from @SatayKing and @Nodrog I'm seeing if I can scan as musch as possible and go paperless

Lots of great 30+ page scanners/printers at Office works etc

 

Thanks for that. Looks excellent. Given most stuff I need to keep nowadays is already in electronic format I don’t need to scan much nowadays. But Camscanner looks just perfect for my needs. The free version is all I’ll likely need. No need to turn on the PC in the study anymore to scan the odd hard copy doc. It’s getting to the stage where I could just about get rid of the desktop and entirely use the IPad.

 

I found it a task and a half initially @Redwing and a very boring one but it was definitely worthwhile for me.

 

More than worthwhile, bloody fantastic. As part of the process wherever possible I selected email delivery of all bills etc so these are already in electronic format. Very little mail in our letter box nowadays . And of course the paperwork associated with a handful of LICs / ETFs is next to nothing unlike property.

I rarely venture into my study nowadays, it’s starting to resemble an empty space. And now with CanScanner I probably won’t even use the PC and flat bed scanner. Don’t even need to get out of bed anymore to do admin, just me and the IPad flat out working.

 

Use CamScanner from time to time, not good for a long receipt (some receipts from JB can be quite lengthy). Always scanned them and store in Dropbox for records.

And back them up weekly in case deleting them accidentally.

 

Current situation

 

No .
As the Turkish forensic will be able to prove things
Even if the receipt has been cut up with a bone cutter and taken to another country and buried