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Just curious as to the tools and organization system different people are using to manage their receipts and paperwork. Admittedly, I'm still using old-school methods of organizing actual paper instead of scanning, storing, then shredding the physical product.

A flatbed scanner seems like it would be cumbersome (I hate scanning with mine) to do any volume of scanning. What tools do you use?

As to the filing and organizing, how are you doing it?

Thanks!

Most people know my investing situation and know that my partner handles most of the day to day operations while I handle the bookkeeping, website and other "behind the scenes" activities. This takes extraordinary coordination and communication between the two of us and we have developed what I believe is a very effective system for dealing with organization and filing. A primary tool we both use is an IPhone scanning app that allows us to scan and email (PDFs) ov documents on the spot. This is especially important with receipts (he scans and emails them to me directly after purchases). Once I receive any documents via email I will print them out for our hardcopy filing system and put them in our electronic filing system which we share via dropbox. This allows both of us access to our official files at all times and provides us with a hardcopy backup.

For more time consuming tasks, I use a commercial-like printer that can scan and email a stack of papers at once. If needed, I can break these up into separate PDFs. I have a system of electronically naming all documents for easy searching. Once a week I review the electronic files and make sure I included everything necessary for that week.

@Joshua Dorkin I file mine for backup. I am sure eventually I will shred old files, but I will likely keep them for several years just in case.

@Kevin C. - Of course, keeping backups in multiple locations is key -- I'm curious if people are destroying their paper copies -- it sounds like that's not the case as of yet.

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Do you guys scan the receipts just in case you get audited at some point, or also to give to the accountant? I've been entering the receipt and expense data in an Excel spreadsheet for the account's use, but I don't know if I'm doing extra work for no reason.

Hey @James Vermillion, I just downloaded DropBox on both of my computers and my iPhone and I love it after about 10 minutes!

What is the app you use for the iPhone to scan? I snagged a free scanning app a while ago, but the quality wasn't good enough to actually use. Thoughts?

I just learned of a scanner that you can buy at office supply stores that is specifically for receipts. You scan them in and it saves them all in one file for you (or multiple files if you choose) but I can not remember the name of it. I will check and get back to this thread on it. Seems like a great idea and I understand your young kids can even perform the task.

I've been scanning all my receipts and have been storing them in Google docs (free storage up to 1GB). Since I started using Buildium I've been storing the scanned receipts as part of each recorded bill or expense entry.

As far as keeping originals, I haven't been keeping them. Does any one know if it's required to keep the original receipts or would a digital copy suffice in case of an audit?

JotNot Pro for iDevices is excellent for quick receipts on the road. And the old all in one scanner at home with a hopper is good for the large documents. I have been using Evernote to keep it organized on the Cloud.

Transition to digital is hard, even for those of us who grew up through the revolution. I'm a firm believer that original hard copies should be kept for a minimum of 3 years for IRS purposes. The procedure that I followed at RIT seemed cumbersome while working there, however, I've been adopting their format.

Namely, At the end of the week all receipts are logged into a spreadsheet with Date, Vendor, Amount, Description, category. The hard copies are then glued to a 8.5 x 11 if they are not already that size. The long receipts are cut to fit. Those are the submitted to the financing department, or for us small business folk, their filed. Going the extra step means digitizing them and naming them / filing them so they will be searchable.

I will ultimately go this route, though due to time constraints I'm still currently skipping the digitizing. This year alone I have had to dig out a few receipts from the file cabinet. As your file cabinet grows, you'll only wish it was digitized that much sooner. Keystrokes are quicker than fuddling through folders.

Best,
Mark