hardcopy paper invoices

Hi
I have just spent the last 2 hours, 1000 sheets of paper, and goodness know how many printer jams batch printing out aprils invoices from my shop

can any one tell me...
my shop is hosted on servers in the usa, and backed up daily
i have a record of the database on my harddrive, i can click to see any invoice very easily.

do i really need a hardcopy print out of invoices (vat registered Ltd company) , or is database good enough, for the vat / tax

as i work from home, i will be able to insulate my loft a foot deep with all the invoices after 6 years.

please advise

 

Couldn't you just save the invoices as PDF files?

 

well this is what im wondering, my shop produces invpoice pdf files, or an html invoice at the touch of a button

what does everybody else do,

 

We used to print paper invoices every month for KashFlow subscriptions.

It's now at the point where it'd be totally impractical to do so (nevermind the environmental cost). We don't print them anymore. But we can print all invoices for any date range at the click of a button should anyone (inspector, etc) need us to.

 

I'm a very experienced accountant/bookkeeper

funnily enough I brought this up with an inspector recently, it is still by law (if you are VAT Registered), to keep HARD copies of your paperwork. I would suggest (and this is what I now do).

Keep a monthly list of sales (with Date / Trans ref / Amount G / Tax Amount), Then save all invoices onto a CD and attach to list.

Seems to be fair enough for the inspectors...

 

Hard copies NOT required if you comply with HMRC rules http://customs.hmrc.gov.uk/channels...ent&id=HMCE_PROD_010205&propertyType=document

 

With my practice, all sales invoices are kept either as PDF or HTML depending on the client, I also encourage my client’s suppliers to send invoices to me direct by email rather than hard copy.

Less space needed for filing and more importantly better for the environment.

 

I keep both electronic and paper based ones, I try to do everything at the end of the day otherwise if I left it for a whole week or month I'd be sat for hours on end printing it all!