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I have sold various ISA investments over the years and am wondering if it is necessary to keep the contract notes. They could only be of interest to HMRC but any profits are tax-free so I am assuming I can bin them. Can investing posters comment please?
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I don't. The provider holds them all electronically anyway so if you have an online account you can probably retrieve them yourself if ever necessary, or they would provide them.
In fact there's lots of paper stuff I no longer keep, but I do sometimes scan it first - only because I can.
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its tax free. ive binned all mine. sure they must be retrievable online if ever needed
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I'd bin them. But if you're worried, use a smart phone or digital camera to photograph them and leave the resulting tiny file on your computer somewhere.
That's what I do with all those documents that I think I might want one day but never do.
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Generally I am in the bin it group. The main concern I would have is if there were several substantial, sums going through my bank account over a period of years. If HMRC asked me to explain the source of these funds it would be good to have a ready set of records.
Much depends on how complex your financial situation is. If you only have one ISA provider and only have a few transactions then it’s presumably not an issue either to keep the notes or if necessary get copies in future should you need them. On the other hand if you have lots of transactions across more than one provider it might be better to keep the notes or at least a record of the source of funds so you know where to start in the event of needing proof.
For most people the chances of HMRC coming knocking is remote. And I think they can only go back seven years but I may be wrong.
I do however keep a note explaining major movements in/out (not just ISAs) so that if I am no longer around the family can understand the source of any major sums if they are trying to sort out my finances or wind up my estate. For the sake of a few notes on a spreadsheet it might save a lot of digging.
And on that cheerful note………
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"...And I think they can only go back seven years..." My recollection is that is they find evidence of cheating within that period then the period can be extended.
The point about keeping notes is good - I run a spreadsheet with a number of tabs, partly for nerdy comparisons and partly "in case" for instance I do put fuel bill details in, and record other boring stuff, but the relevant tabs for this thread is a record of monetary gifts which may be of interest when I croak. These have so far been pension drawdowns but if I took significant amounts out of any account which didn't then show up in another I'd note it down, with where it went, in case I was ever asked.
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An accountant tells me two years is long enough.
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ISA sold contract notes - smokie
