How long to keep tax records for Buy-to-Let?

[MyNameIsUrl]

Having done a bit of googling, my understanding is below – I’d be grateful for any corrections or other views:

* All those records for transactions which support the income tax part of my tax return only need to be kept for 22 months after the end of the tax year. These record include rental income, repairs, mortgage interest, etc. The requirements for businesses and the self-employed (keep records for 5 years) don’t apply to a BTL.

* Records for transactions which support the capital gains tax part of my tax returns need to be kept indefinitely while the property is still owned. After the property is sold and the transaction has been reported via the Property Reporting Service and the SA form, the 22-month rule comes into play.

In short, the only documents which need to be in my records are the last 22 months of income/expenditure transactions, and those which support the purchase of the property including associated costs of purchase such as solicitors fees. 22 months after end of the year in which I sell a property I can bin the lot.

(All this is purely from a tax standpoint; clearly I might want to keep documents associated with a remortgage from 10 years ago, but the taxman won’t need them).

[tacpot12]

My understandingwas that HMRC can ask to see evidence of your expenditure going back over the previous six tax years. So need to keep receipts going back for 7 years as HMRC might ask you anytime in the current tax year (e.g. on 4th April 2024) for evidence going back six more tax years, so as early as 6th April 2017.

[pje16]

If they suspect deliberate tax evasion, they can investigate as far as back 20 years
but I'm sure that won't apply here