Record keeping, and how long to keep it
You have to keep enough to show how every figure on your return was arrived at: what you were paid, what you spent, and how far you drove for the work. Records have to be kept for 5 years after the filing deadline for the year they cover.
Correct for the 2026/27 tax year. Last checked 12/09/2026.
Records are the difference between a compliance check that takes an afternoon and one that takes a year. Almost nothing else you do about tax matters as much, and it costs a couple of minutes a day.
What HMRC actually wants
The obligation is to keep records that let you make a complete and correct return. In practice that means being able to explain any figure on it.
| Figure on the return | What supports it |
|---|---|
| Turnover | Platform statements or invoices for every payment, gross, before fees |
| Mileage claim | A dated log of business journeys, plus start and end odometer readings for the year |
| Other expenses | Receipts or invoices, and a note of the business share where a cost is partly private |
| Anything unusual | A contemporaneous note explaining the position you took |
The mileage log is the one that matters
It is usually the largest deduction on the return and it is the one with no third party behind it. Nobody sends you a statement for miles. That makes it the first thing HMRC asks for and the first thing a driver cannot produce.
A log entry needs the date, the distance and the purpose. Where the purpose is arguable, such as the first journey of a day, a sentence about why is worth more later than it costs now.
How long
5 years from the 31 January deadline for the year concerned. Longer if the return was late or if HMRC has opened a check, because the clock runs from a different point in both cases.
Setting it up so it happens
- Decide where records live before you need them. One place, not three.
- Log the shift the day you do it. Distance, hours, what each platform paid.
- Photograph a receipt when you get it. A photo in a folder beats a paper receipt in a glovebox that faded by March.
- Download platform statements monthly. Accounts get deactivated and apps drop old history, and both happen at the worst time.
- Export a full copy at the end of each tax year and keep it somewhere that is not the app.
JoltMile does the first three of those as a side effect of using it, and exports the whole year as CSV or JSON for the last one. The export matters: records you cannot get out of a tool are records you do not really have.
What changes under Making Tax Digital
Digital record keeping stops being optional and quarterly updates replace the single return, for anyone over the threshold. Making Tax Digital for Income Tax covers who and when.
Sources
Common questions
- How long do I have to keep records?
- 5 years after the 31 January filing deadline for the tax year they relate to. So records for a year ending 5 April 2027 are kept until early 2033.
- Do digital records count?
- Yes. A photograph of a receipt is as good as the receipt, and under Making Tax Digital digital records become the requirement rather than an option.
- What does a mileage log have to contain?
- The date, the distance, and enough about the journey to show it was for the work. A total for the year with nothing behind it is not a record, it is an assertion.
- Do I need receipts if I claim the mileage rate?
- Not for the running costs of the vehicle, because the rate replaces them. You still need the mileage log, the income records, and receipts for anything you claim separately such as parking or platform fees.
- What if I have lost a year of records?
- Reconstruct what you can from bank statements and platform statements, keep a note of what you did and why, and be conservative on anything you cannot evidence. An overstated claim you cannot support is a worse position than a smaller one you can.
About the author
Issac Davies, Founder of JoltMile
Issac Davies drives for gig apps in the UK and built JoltMile to show drivers what a shift actually pays once fuel, insurance and tax come off. Every guide here is checked against HMRC and gov.uk guidance, and is information rather than tax advice.
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Shift log · Expenses · CSV and JSON export: the JoltMile app works this out from your own shifts. Your first 10 shifts are free.
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