Paper receipts have a short, chaotic life. They go into a pocket, then a wallet, then a drawer, and by the time you need one for a return, a warranty claim or your taxes, the ink has faded to nothing.
Scanning fixes that, and you don't need a scanner or a paid app to do it. Your phone already has a good document scanner built in. This guide covers how to use it, how to organize the files so you can find them later, and how long you actually need to keep them.
Before you scan: three things that make it work
- Flatten the receipt. Smooth out folds and creases. Long receipts can be weighed down at each end.
- Use a dark, plain background. A white receipt on a dark table lets the scanner find the edges automatically.
- Use good, even light. Daylight from a window is ideal. Avoid your own shadow falling across it.
And one more: scan thermal receipts soon. Most shop receipts are printed on thermal paper, which fades with heat, light, and handling. A receipt left in a hot car or a wallet for a few months can become unreadable. Scan it the day you get it if you can.
How to scan receipts on iPhone (Notes app)
The Notes app has a free document scanner that crops and straightens automatically.
- Open Notes and start a new note.
- Tap the camera icon (or the paperclip, depending on your iOS version) and choose Scan Documents.
- Hold your iPhone over the receipt. A yellow frame appears when it finds the edges, and it captures automatically.
- Adjust the corners if needed and tap Keep Scan. Scan more receipts or tap Save.
- To save it as a file, open the scan, tap the share button, and choose Save to Files.
The Files app also has a scanner: tap the three dots at the top of a folder and choose Scan Documents. This saves the PDF straight into the folder you're in, which is handy if you keep a receipts folder.
How to scan receipts on Android (Google Drive)
Google Drive's built-in scanner does the same job on Android.
- Open Google Drive and tap the + button.
- Choose Scan.
- Hold the phone over the receipt. It detects the edges and captures automatically, or you can tap the shutter.
- Crop or adjust, add more pages if needed, then save.
Drive saves the scan as a PDF and runs text recognition on it, so you can later search your Drive for a merchant name and find the receipt. On newer Android phones, Drive can also capture several receipts laid out on a table in one go and separate them into individual pages.
Many Android phones also have a document mode in the camera app itself, and Microsoft Lens and Adobe Scan are free alternatives on both platforms if you want more control over filters and file types.
Using a printer or flatbed scanner
If you have a pile from the year and a home printer with a scanner, batch them:
- Lay several small receipts on the glass with a little space between them.
- Close the lid to give a dark background.
- Scan to PDF, and turn on text recognition (OCR) if your scanning software offers it, so the text is searchable.
Then split or rename the files using the system below.
How to organize scanned receipts
A scan you can't find is no better than a faded receipt. The simplest system that works:
Name every file the same way: date, merchant, amount.
2026-10-09 Home Depot 84.20.pdf
Dates written year-month-day sort in the right order automatically, and having the merchant and amount in the name means you can find a receipt with a quick search, without opening anything.
Use one folder per year, with a few subfolders only if you need them:
- Receipts / 2026 / Tax (deductible expenses, donations, medical)
- Receipts / 2026 / Warranty (electronics, appliances, furniture)
- Receipts / 2026 / Everything else
Back it up. Keep the folder in iCloud Drive, Google Drive, OneDrive or Dropbox, so a lost phone doesn't mean lost records.
Shred what you don't need. Once a receipt is scanned and you've checked the scan is legible, you can usually discard the paper, unless it's for a warranty that requires the original or a very large purchase.
Scanning a receipt vs logging the expense
These are two different jobs, and it's worth being clear which one you're doing.
Scanning keeps a copy of the receipt. It's evidence: for tax, returns, warranties, and insurance claims.
Logging records the spending. It tells you how much went on groceries this month, which is what you need if you're trying to understand or change your spending.
A folder full of PDFs won't tell you what you spent last month unless you open every one and add them up. If tracking is the goal, you need the numbers out of the receipt, not just a picture of it.
That's the job of a receipt scanner app. With TallyMsg, you send a photo of the receipt to the bot in Telegram or WhatsApp, and it reads the total, merchant and date, picks a category, and logs the expense. The Free plan includes 5 receipt scans a month. TallyMsg saves the expense details, not the image, so for receipts you need to keep for tax or warranties, also save a scan using one of the methods above.
If you'd rather keep everything in a spreadsheet, our free expense tracker template has the columns and formulas, and the free expense tracker totals categories in your browser.
How long should you keep receipts?
For everyday purchases you're not claiming on tax, keep the receipt until the return window or warranty runs out. For anything that supports a tax return, the minimum periods depend on where you live.
| Country | General minimum for tax records | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| United States (IRS) | 3 years from filing | 6 years if income was underreported by more than 25%; 7 years for a loss from worthless securities or bad debt |
| United Kingdom (HMRC) | 22 months after the end of the tax year | Self-employed: at least 5 years after the 31 January filing deadline |
| Canada (CRA) | 6 years from the end of the tax year | Longer for records relating to property |
| Australia (ATO) | 5 years from lodging your return | Longer for assets you're claiming depreciation on |
These are general rules. Business owners, landlords, and anyone with an open audit often need to keep records longer, so check with your tax authority or an accountant for your own situation.
Some receipts are worth keeping indefinitely, or at least for as long as you own the item: home improvements (they can affect tax when you sell), major purchases you might need to prove for insurance, and anything still under warranty.
Are scanned receipts accepted for tax?
In general, yes. The tax authorities in the US, UK, Canada and Australia all accept digital copies of records, provided the copy is clear, complete, and you can produce it if asked. That's why legibility matters: scan in good light, check the total and date are readable, and rescan if not.
If you're self-employed or claim significant deductions, it's worth confirming the exact requirements with an accountant before you shred the originals.