Practical guide
Photographing Receipts: Is It Legal?
Photographing a receipt to file it, then binning the paper: the practice is common, but how far is it accepted? Here are the conditions for a reliable digital copy, the retention period to respect, and the right way to hand scanned receipts to your accountant.
Yes, under conditions: the reliable-copy framework
Photographing a receipt to keep it is perfectly legal, and has become standard practice. The question isn't the photo itself but its status: does the digital copy replace the original, or merely support it?
French law grants a reliable copy the same evidential value as the original. For the tax authority, that means a scan that reproduces the document identically, without loss of information, and archiving that guarantees the file hasn't been altered since. As long as these conditions are met, the photo stands in for the proof.
The technical requirements of a valid scan
Three notions sum up what's expected of a scanned receipt.
File integrity
The file mustn't be editable afterwards without it showing. In practice: don't retouch the image, don't crop out a line, don't correct an amount. Cropping the edges and straightening the perspective to improve readability is fine; rewriting the content is not.
Timestamp and legibility
The copy must be faithful and complete: merchant, date, detail, amount, VAT rate and VAT amount must stay legible. A crooked, cropped or blurry photo is worthless. The scan date must be known, which any tool that logs the item on the spot does automatically.
Traceable archiving
You need to be able to say where documents are stored, how they're backed up and how they can be retrieved. A folder of scattered photos in your phone's gallery doesn't meet this criterion; a database where every expense carries its date, supplier, amount and image does.
Should you keep the paper after the photo?
If your scanning process meets the conditions above, the paper is no longer essential. In practice, many professionals adopt a sensible middle ground: everything is scanned, and only the originals of large or unusual expenses are kept in an annual folder.
This caution costs little and avoids the one genuinely awkward scenario: an audit that disputes the scanning process after the originals have already been thrown away. Ask your accountant, since they're the one who will have to defend the file.
The right question isn't "am I allowed to bin the paper?" but "would my way of scanning hold up in front of an inspector?".
How long to keep digital receipts
Accounting supporting documents must be kept for ten years. Documents used for a tax audit must be kept for at least six years, and files must remain accessible and legible throughout.
This is precisely the strongest argument for going digital: the thermal ink on a receipt fades within months and often disappears before the financial year even ends. A photo taken on the day of purchase, on the other hand, will still be legible ten years later.
Sending receipts to your accountant: CSV + images
A usable handover of supporting documents isn't just a folder of images. The practice needs a summary file listing, line by line, the date, supplier, gross amount, VAT, category and relevant folder, with the matching images delivered in the same package.
- One export per month, matching the pace of VAT returns.
- Consistent file naming, linked to the summary lines.
- One document per expense, to avoid duplicates.
- A single delivery to a known address rather than attachments scattered across several messages.
What ScanCompta does for you
The app logs the photo at the moment of purchase, extracts the supplier, date, amount and VAT, and keeps the image as-is next to the extracted data. Every expense is dated, filed and retrievable in two taps, even years later.
At month end, one button sends your accountant the CSV and the matching receipts, filtered by period and folder. No file to assemble, no photos to hunt down in your phone's gallery.
In short
Photographing your receipts is legal and recommended, provided the copy is faithful, complete, unedited and traceably archived. Keep the originals of large expenses as a precaution, respect the ten-year retention period, and send your accountant a structured summary with images rather than a pile of photos.
Questions & comments
A question about this guide? Ask below — I answer personally within one business day.
- J
Julien
August 12, 2026
If I lose a €9 toll receipt, can I still claim it with just a bank statement?
ScanComptaAuthorYes — for a small amount, a bank statement plus a signed statement is usually accepted. You cannot reclaim VAT without the original receipt though.
- S
Sonia
August 3, 2026
Do I need to keep the paper receipts after scanning them with your app?
ScanComptaAuthorNo. If the scan is a faithful and durable copy, the digital version is enough. We store everything for 10 years for you.
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Frequently asked questions
Can I throw a receipt away once I've photographed it?
Only if the scan meets the conditions for a reliable copy set by the tax authority (faithfulness, integrity, durable storage). If in doubt, keep the originals of significant expenses and have your accountant sign off on your process.
Is a photo taken with a phone accepted?
Yes, nothing requires a flatbed scanner. What matters is that the document is fully legible, the reproduction is faithful (no editing of the content), and the file is kept without alteration.
How long should scanned receipts be kept?
Accounting records must be kept for ten years in France, and at least six years for documents used as the basis for a tax audit. Scanning doesn't shorten these periods; it simply makes them workable, since thermal ink fades within months.
How should I send digital receipts to my accountant?
As a structured package: a summary file (date, supplier, gross amount, VAT, category) together with the matching images, organised by month. That is exactly the format produced by ScanCompta's monthly export, emailed to the recipient of your choice.
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