Invoice scanning software

[DarrenC]

Does anyone know of any software which enables you to scan and store invoices on your PC?

I know I could scan and save them in a folder, which is what I'll end up doing if there's no software.

Will the Inland Revenue etc. accept scanned copies of invoices?

I'm just trying to find a solution for the mountain of paperwork I have building up.

Darren

[DarrenC]

I guess thats a no :lol:

I've decided instead to partition part of my external hard drive, and scan invoices, bills etc and save them on the hard drive, which is easy to access.

My question now is;

If the Inland Revenue were to do an audit, would scanned copies of these invoices and bills be okay or will they want originals?

I don't want to shred the originals if they are going to need them.

Darren

[coxadmin]

Darren, I didn't see your original post.

I create all my invoices in Excel and print them to PDF, which I then save on my computer in a folder dedicated to invoices. Saving as a PDF also means I can email my invoices to my clients (where they have agreed to recieve invoices by email).

[annethedonn]

You can also print them straight from Sage if you have it and even email them from the newer version. I print mine and scan to pdf like Lynn.

[DarrenC]

Thanks for the comments.

I'm okay with my own invoices, I do them in MS Word, and save and send them in PDF. What I am having problems with is the amount of invoices sent to me.

Bills, invoices, anything to do with the business, I have stored in folder boxes. I'm running out of space, so I want somewhere to scan these bills and invoices.

I was wondering if there was some software for that - looked around can't find any..

[annethedonn]

can you not use a straightforward scanner with built in software? The OfficeJet 6110 is pretty useful.

[DarrenC]

Anne, yep I think that's what I am going to do.

Will the Inland Revenue accept these though if I get rid of the originals?

[desk2web]

I'm building some software at the minute to allow scanned images of documents to be viewed and downloaded by the relevent client (one of which is Lloyds).

Apparently for legal reasons the scanned images have to be stored in TIFF format, I'll find out why tomorrow as I have a meeting with the scanning company Managing Director.

Let me know if you need to store the documents, our backup service is idea for this - and its secure!

[Joyous]

Hi Darren

The Revenue will accept scanned invoices. From memory the wording was something like electronic documents will be accepted in the absence of originals. Which rather begs the question why would you have an electronic version unless you were planning to get rid of the original.

Unfortunately I can't find a link to confirm this but "the paperless office" has been a hot topic among accountants for a while now.

Regards

Joy

[annethedonn]

And I said that without even moving my lips lol! FYI the offijet saves in Tiff format and also sends in pdf, Word and other formats either editable or otherwise.
http://www.hp.com/sbso/product/mfp/mfp_aio_intro.html?jumpid=ex_r295_IPG-search-yahoo-mfp_product

[KM-Tiger]

Will the Inland Revenue etc. accept scanned copies of invoices?
Looks to me like a confusing picture. A quick browse of hmrc.gov.uk found this (http://customs.hmrc.gov.uk/channelsPortalWebApp/channelsPortalWebApp.portal?_nfpb=true&_pageLabel=pageVAT_InfoGuides&propertyType=document&id=HMCE_CL_001216) and this (http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/startingup/keeprecs.htm#computer). So it looks like Revenue want you to keep the originals and VAT don't require you to.

I would suggest it's a dangerous road to go down unless you are 100% confident of the security of your electronic data, which would mean multiple offsite backups, for instance.

[desk2web]

I would suggest it's a dangerous road to go down unless you are 100% confident of the security of your electronic data, which would mean multiple offsite backups, for instance.

Think I know someone who can sort that for you :wink:

[Sapphire-Limited]

Hi Darren,

We have your solution!

We sell a product called Sharpfind.

Here's the link:

http://www.sharpinbusiness.co.uk/product.asp?sapcode=INSFS&category_id=8

Please do let me know should you require further information.

Regards
Gareth
Sapphire Document Solutions

[DarrenC]

Thanks everyone - really useful advice.

Kent, I agree with you, I'd not want to spend time getting my business 'paperless' if the data is not secure.

Joyous, that is very useful to know. I know that the government are very keen to get businesses paperless, and running an internet based business, certainly goes some way in doing that.

Sapphire, thanks will check that link out.

Darren