How long must a company keep accounting records in Singapore?
At least five years from the relevant Year of Assessment. IRAS requires companies to keep source documents, accounting records, schedules, bank statements and other business transaction records for that period.
You must keep your company's accounting records for at least five years from the relevant Year of Assessment (YA). IRAS states that this covers source documents, accounting records, schedules, bank statements and other records of business transactions. The YA is the year after the financial year: records for a financial year ending 31 December 2025 fall under YA 2026, so they should be kept until at least 2031. The Companies Act, administered by ACRA, also requires accounting records to be kept for at least five years. Records can be kept electronically, provided they are complete, accurate and can be produced when IRAS asks for them.
Most companies rely on a bookkeeper or accounting firm to keep these records in order. Published prices checked in our ranking in August 2026:
| Provider | Published price | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Sleek | From S$75 a month, billed annually | Annual Filing and Bookkeeping tier; scope varies |
| Timcole / HeySara | Monthly bookkeeping from S$200 | Non-GST company with fewer than 30 transactions a month |
| Timcole / HeySara | Annual accounting from S$1,600 | Fewer than 120 transactions a year |
| Counto | Quote based on revenue or transaction volume | No fixed published price |
| Osome | Package-based quote | No fixed published price |
| InCorp | Custom quote | No fixed published price |
What changes the answer
- Your financial year end: the five years run from the YA, not from the date of each transaction, so map every financial year to its YA.
- Open tax matters: if IRAS has raised a query or a review is ongoing, keep the related records until it is fully settled, even beyond five years.
- GST registration: GST-registered companies must also keep GST records, such as tax invoices and import documents, for at least five years.
- Annual-only bookkeeping: a package that books transactions once a year still needs you to collect and keep every source document during the year.
What to check before you decide
- Who stores the source documents, and in what format, if you outsource bookkeeping.
- Whether you keep access to records held in cloud accounting software if the subscription or engagement ends; some providers price software subscriptions separately.
- That the engagement letter covers offboarding, including the return of all ledgers, schedules and source documents.
- That bank statements and receipts are backed up independently of your accountant's system.