Payment receipts: what to keep and why
The value of a receipt is not on the day it is sent. It is eighteen months later, when two people remember a month differently.
Short answer. Proof of payment is a bank or wallet confirmation showing the amount, the date and the recipient. For cash, the equivalent is a record made by the person who received it, naming them. Either way it has to be attached to the payment, not stored elsewhere.
What makes a receipt useful
- The amount, legibly.
- The date.
- The recipient — the account or person it went to.
- A reference where the bank gives one.
A confirmation screen with none of these is a picture of a success message, and it will not settle anything.
Cash
Cash cannot produce a bank receipt, so the record has to do more work:
- Recorded the same day, not at month end.
- Names who received it. This is the whole substitute for the bank.
- Marked clearly as cash, so the history distinguishes it from a transfer.
Formats worth accepting
- A photo or screenshot of the transfer
- A PDF statement from the bank — often clearer than an app screenshot
- Two images where a long receipt does not fit in one
Attached, not filed
Receipts kept in one folder and payments kept in a list are two collections that were connected only in somebody's memory. Within a year the connection is gone. The receipt belongs on the payment.
Common questions
Is a screenshot enough?
Usually yes, if it shows the amount, the date and the recipient. A screenshot that shows only "Sent successfully" proves very little.
What counts as proof for cash?
A record made by whoever took it, naming them, on the day. It is weaker than a bank receipt, and that is exactly why it should name a person.
Read next
- Tracking payments so the record can be trusted — What a payment record has to contain
- Approving payments: what the admin is actually checking — The check that keeps the record honest
- Collecting money from a group safely — Precautions for whoever is receiving