How long must busi­nesses keep delivery notes? Retention periods explained

Delivery note retention periods in the UK depend on the role a document plays within a business. Unlike invoices, delivery notes do not generally have a separate retention period of their own. Instead, they may form part of the sup­port­ing business records needed to verify trans­ac­tions, ac­count­ing entries, tax returns or VAT records.

How long do busi­nesses need to keep delivery notes in the UK?

The delivery note retention period depends on whether the document is needed as part of the business’s records.

The ap­plic­able retention period also depends partly on the type of business. Limited companies generally need to keep company and ac­count­ing records for six years from the end of the last company financial year they relate to. Sole traders generally need to keep their business records for at least five years after the 31 January sub­mis­sion deadline for the relevant tax year. These re­quire­ments can include delivery notes where they are needed to support accounts or tax returns.

Delivery notes may be relevant, for example, when they:

• confirm that goods were delivered or received,
• support purchase or sales records,
• provide evidence for ac­count­ing entries,
• form part of VAT records,
• help explain trans­ac­tions during an HMRC com­pli­ance check.

If a delivery note forms part of records a business needs for tax purposes, it should be kept for the ap­plic­able period (see the table below).

There is therefore no universal statutory retention period that applies spe­cific­ally to every com­mer­cial delivery note. Busi­nesses should assess what purpose a delivery note serves and which record-keeping re­quire­ments apply to it.

Companies should also be aware of the separate re­quire­ments under the Companies Act 2006. Ac­count­ing records must generally be preserved for three years for private companies and six years for public companies from the date on which they are made. However, tax le­gis­la­tion can require records to be kept for longer, which is why the six-year HMRC retention period is par­tic­u­larly relevant for many limited companies.

Why should busi­nesses keep delivery notes?

Delivery notes can help busi­nesses prove that goods were supplied or received. They are par­tic­u­larly useful when checking invoices, resolving disputes or ex­plain­ing trans­ac­tions during an HMRC com­pli­ance check. A delivery note may contain important in­form­a­tion such as supplier or customer details, delivery dates, de­scrip­tions and quant­it­ies of goods and ref­er­ences to purchase orders or invoices.

Keeping these documents together with related invoices and ac­count­ing records can make financial processes easier to track.

What is the retention period for paper delivery notes?

Paper delivery notes that form part of a limited company’s required tax or ac­count­ing records should generally be kept in line with the ap­plic­able retention period. For tax purposes, this will commonly mean six years from the end of the last company financial year they relate to.

The Companies Act 2006 also requires companies to keep adequate ac­count­ing records. These records must be suf­fi­cient to show and explain the company’s trans­ac­tions and disclose its financial position with reas­on­able accuracy. As noted above, the Act generally requires ac­count­ing records to be preserved for three years for private companies and six years for public companies, although tax re­quire­ments may result in a longer retention period.

Busi­nesses should therefore ensure that relevant delivery notes are complete, easy to locate, linked to the cor­res­pond­ing trans­ac­tion and protected against loss or un­au­thor­ised changes.

What is the retention period for digital delivery notes?

The ap­plic­able retention period does not generally depend on whether a relevant delivery note is stored on paper or elec­tron­ic­ally. The important factor is whether the elec­tron­ic document remains an adequate and ac­cess­ible business record.

When storing delivery notes digitally, busi­nesses should ensure that:

• documents remain readable through­out the retention period,
• records can be accessed when required,
• files are protected against un­au­thor­ised changes,
• documents can be linked to the relevant trans­ac­tion.

VAT-re­gistered busi­nesses should also take account of Making Tax Digital for VAT re­quire­ments. All VAT-re­gistered busi­nesses are required to keep certain VAT records digitally unless an exemption applies. Where delivery note in­form­a­tion forms part of those required VAT records, busi­nesses should ensure that their digital record-keeping processes meet the ap­plic­able re­quire­ments.

Simply saving delivery notes in an un­struc­tured email inbox or unrelated folders can make it more difficult to provide sup­port­ing doc­u­ment­a­tion when HMRC requests it.

How should busi­nesses store delivery notes?

Many busi­nesses receive large numbers of delivery notes, es­pe­cially when dealing with regular suppliers. A struc­tured document man­age­ment system can help with storing delivery notes and finding them when needed.

Useful practices include:

• storing delivery notes together with related invoices,
• using con­sist­ent file names,
• or­gan­ising documents by supplier, date or project,
• backing up digital records regularly.

Automated document man­age­ment systems can also help extract in­form­a­tion from delivery notes and assign documents to the correct trans­ac­tion.

How can AI help with archiving delivery notes?

Manually reviewing large numbers of delivery notes can be time-consuming, par­tic­u­larly for small and medium-sized en­ter­prises (SMEs). Busi­nesses may not always have the resources to check each document in­di­vidu­ally to determine whether it forms part of their required ac­count­ing or tax records and which retention period applies.

AI-based systems can help automate this process. Spe­cial­ised document man­age­ment systems can extract in­form­a­tion from delivery notes, classify documents and apply pre­defined retention rules. Systems that use tamper-resistant storage, such as WORM (Write Once, Read Many) archives, can also help protect archived documents against sub­sequent changes and support busi­nesses with their digital record-keeping processes.

For example, an SME that receives numerous delivery notes each day could use a spe­cial­ised AI system as follows:

1. A new delivery note is auto­mat­ic­ally detected in the archive and its contents are extracted.
2. The AI system analyses in­form­a­tion such as the supplier, goods, quant­it­ies, invoice ref­er­ences and relevant ac­count­ing in­form­a­tion.
3. The system clas­si­fies the document according to pre­defined document types.
4. Based on pre­defined rules, the system can then suggest an ap­pro­pri­ate retention period or apply one auto­mat­ic­ally and archive the document ac­cord­ingly.

Auto­ma­tion like this can be par­tic­u­larly useful for SMEs, as record-keeping re­quire­ments and internal retention rules can change. A digital archive with pre­defined com­pli­ance rules can help make archiving processes more efficient. However, re­spons­ib­il­ity for complying with the ap­plic­able legal and tax re­quire­ments remains with the business.

What happens if busi­nesses do not keep delivery notes?

If busi­nesses cannot provide required sup­port­ing records during an HMRC com­pli­ance check, they may have dif­fi­culties demon­strat­ing that trans­ac­tions, accounts and tax returns are accurate.

The con­sequences depend on which record-keeping ob­lig­a­tion has not been met. GOV.UK states that a limited company can be fined £3,000 by HMRC or its directors can be dis­qual­i­fied if it does not keep ac­count­ing records. Separate penalties and offences can also apply under tax le­gis­la­tion and the Companies Act 2006, depending on the cir­cum­stances. This does not mean that every missing delivery note auto­mat­ic­ally results in a £3,000 fine. The relevant question is whether the business has failed to keep records it was legally required to retain.

Busi­nesses should therefore regularly check which delivery notes need to be retained, how long the ap­plic­able records must be kept and whether documents can be found quickly when required. A clear process for keeping delivery notes helps busi­nesses meet their record-keeping ob­lig­a­tions and maintain reliable ac­count­ing doc­u­ment­a­tion.

Please note the legal notice for this article.