Updated November 6, 2026. Quick answer: you do not have to buy anything. The IRS says “Except in a few cases, the law does not require any special kind of records”. It also says: “You may choose any recordkeeping system suited to your business that clearly shows your income and expenses.” A phone camera, a spreadsheet and a dated folder can meet that bar. Software earns its fee when one specific job you now do by hand is costing you more than the subscription. This guide gives you the record standard, a five-row test, the six questions that decide which tool fits, and what the vendors state on their own pages about the two receipt tools we have a relationship with, SparkReceipt and Dext, with the free routes beside them.
On deductions by profession: tax deductions by profession.
On records for a one-person business: start-up costs under section 195, estimated tax payments and their confirmations and a separate business bank account.
On records for a one-person business: what to record for a business meal and the 50% limit, how to record owner draws as a sole proprietor and a quarterly bookkeeping close checklist.
What a business expense record has to show
The requirement is a purpose, not a product. The IRS puts it in three lines on its recordkeeping page: “Except in a few cases, the law does not require any special kind of records”. Then: “You may choose any recordkeeping system suited to your business that clearly shows your income and expenses.” And on retention: “You must keep your records as long as needed to prove the income or deductions on a tax return”. The IRS adds a caution: “However, the business you are in affects the type of records you need to keep for federal tax purposes.” Read together, the standard is records that clearly show your income and expenses and that last as long as you need them to prove the return.
A few kinds of expense carry stricter proof than the general rule, and a scan does not always replace the paper. Those two questions have their own pages: IRS receipt rules for business expenses, and scanned receipts under the IRS rules. The retention periods, and the minimum a one-person business can run on, are on the tiny-business bookkeeping page.
The honest test: do you need software at all?
Our bookkeeping guide for a tiny business names five situations in which software starts to earn its fee. Here they are beside what the free baseline does in each.
| Situation | What the free baseline does | Where it stops |
|---|---|---|
| You invoice enough clients that chasing payment by hand is a job | A spreadsheet column for the invoice date and the paid date | When the follow-up itself becomes the job you want to stop doing |
| You have inventory | A count sheet and one row per purchase | When the counts no longer reconcile by hand |
| You have employees or regular contractors | A separate sheet per person and your payroll provider’s reports | When the filing duties outgrow a sheet |
| You take payments through more than one processor and have to reconcile them | Monthly exports from each processor into one sheet | When reconciling takes more time than you want to give it |
| Your accountant charges you more to untangle a spreadsheet than the subscription costs | Consistent column names and file names, agreed with the accountant first | When the accountant says the format is the cost; see what to send your accountant |
The test is a specific job you are doing by hand and would stop doing. If you cannot name the job, the free baseline is the right answer today.
The six questions that decide which tool fits
These are the points on which receipt tools differ in ways a one-person business feels. The vendor cells quote or closely follow each vendor’s own pages, read on November 6, 2026; where a page does not say, the cell says so. No product was used for this guide, and nothing in the table is a finding from use.
| Question | What the vendors’ pages state | The full comparison |
|---|---|---|
| Can my accountant get in, and does that cost a seat? | SparkReceipt: the pricing page says “Your accountant joins free and never takes a paid seat.” Dext: its offer page says: “With Dext on your side, you can get your accountant the up-to-date accurate bookkeeping information they need, right when they need it.” Whether an accountant seat costs extra is not stated on the pages read | receipt apps that let your accountant in |
| Does it work without connecting my bank? | SparkReceipt: the accountants page says: “Bank statements upload as PDF, CSV or Excel and every transaction is matched to a receipt in the Transaction Manager.” The pricing page lists a live bank feed as a plan feature; whether the product works with no bank connection at all is not stated in so many words on the pages read Dext: its offer page says Dext “syncs with your bank feeds”; whether that connection is optional is not stated on the pages read | receipt tracking without a bank connection |
| Can I get my data and my images out? | SparkReceipt: the pricing page lists exports in PDF, Excel, CSV and ZIP formats Dext: export formats are not stated on the pages read; the offer page says “Dext retains scans of all original documents, making them available and easy to find for at least ten years.” | which receipt apps export a CSV and your images |
| What does it cost at my receipt volume? | SparkReceipt: Pro is $5.75 a month billed annually ($69.00 a year) with “50 documents / month”; Elite is $10.75 a month billed annually ($129.00 a year) and lists “Unlimited documents*” with a fair-use note (prices read November 6, 2026, for plans bought on the vendor’s website) Dext: the business pricing page showed $25.21 a month, $302.50 billed annually, for 250 documents a month and 5 users, with a slider to raise the allowance (read November 6, 2026) | what receipt software costs by receipt volume |
| I already pay for accounting software. Do I need a second tool? | SparkReceipt: the accountants page says: “Publish categorised expenses with the receipt image attached to QuickBooks Online or Xero” Dext: the offer page describes expenses categorised automatically and submitted to your accounting software | bundled capture versus a separate receipt app |
| My client reimburses some expenses. Does the tool handle that? | SparkReceipt: its feature list describes expense claims for paying people back; billing expenses to a client is not described on the pages read Dext: billing expenses to a client is not described on the pages read | reimbursed client expenses on Schedule C |
After the receipts are kept: the handoff
Whatever you use, the end product is what your preparer needs for each Schedule C line. The line-by-line list is on what to send your accountant, line by line. If you can pass your accountant a spreadsheet and a folder in the shape they ask for, the tool is optional; if the tool lets them see the records without waiting for you, that is the case for paying.
Which route fits which reader
| If you are | Start here | Why, from the documented facts |
|---|---|---|
| A consultant who works with an accountant all year | Accountant access | SparkReceipt’s pricing page says the accountant joins free, and Dext’s offer page names the accountant handoff as a step; compare what each says before you pay for either |
| A freelancer who files alone and has few receipts | The free baseline above | Under SparkReceipt’s Pro plan the page lists 50 documents a month; if your volume is below that, the question is price, which the cost page sets out |
| Someone already paying for QuickBooks, Xero or similar | Bundled capture first | Check what your accounting product already captures before adding a second subscription; Dext’s offer page describes sending expenses to accounting software, and SparkReceipt’s accountants page describes publishing to QuickBooks Online or Xero |
| Privacy-first: you would rather not link a bank account | Without a bank connection | The free baseline needs no connection; for the paid tools the vendor pages read do not say outright whether a bank connection is optional |
The free routes are real alternatives: a phone camera with a spreadsheet and a dated folder meets the standard quoted above, and the receipt capture bundled into accounting software you already pay for is compared on its own page. Dext’s business pricing page offers a 14-day free trial and says “we don’t ask for card details to start it”.
Clear Money Guide has affiliate relationships with SparkReceipt and Dext; the links say so. Nothing here was chosen because of that, and the free routes are real alternatives. How Clear Money Guide makes money.
Common mistakes
- Buying a tool to fix a habit. A scanner only captures the receipts you actually scan, so the habit comes first.
- Treating a card statement as the whole record. The IRS lists sales slips, paid bills, invoices and receipts as the supporting documents behind your books; keep those, not only the statement that paid for them.
- Choosing a tool before asking your accountant what format they want.
- Assuming the monthly price is the whole price. Plans bought in an app store can be priced separately from the vendor’s website.
Sources
- IRS, Recordkeeping: https://www.irs.gov/businesses/small-businesses-self-employed/recordkeeping
- IRS, What kind of records should I keep: https://www.irs.gov/businesses/small-businesses-self-employed/what-kind-of-records-should-i-keep
- IRS, How long should I keep records: https://www.irs.gov/businesses/small-businesses-self-employed/how-long-should-i-keep-records
- SparkReceipt pricing page: https://sparkreceipt.com/pricing/
- SparkReceipt accountants page: https://sparkreceipt.com/accountants/
- Dext business pricing page: https://dext.com/us/business/pricing
- Dext offer page (product description only): https://dext.com/en/dext-affiliate-15
IRS pages and vendor pages read November 6, 2026. Vendor prices and features change; check the vendor’s page before you buy. General information, not tax advice. Your own facts decide the outcome, and a preparer or the IRS is the right place to confirm anything consequential.