Quick answer: Scan paper receipts with the Notes or Files document scanner the day you get them, save email receipts as PDFs, and name each one with the store, item and date. Keep return receipts and tax receipts separate, and check how long your country's tax rules say to keep records.
Written for iOS 18 and iOS 26. Menu names can differ slightly on older versions.
Receipts fade, get thrown away, or vanish into your inbox. A simple routine keeps the ones that matter ready for a return or tax time.
Scan paper receipts the same day
- Open Files, tap the More button (three dots), and choose Scan Documents.
- Scan the receipt and save it to a Receipts folder.
- Rename it: "Best Buy – headphones – 2026-10-11.pdf".
Thermal receipts fade within months, so a scan is often the only copy that survives. More on scanning.
Save email receipts out of your inbox
Open the email, tap the Reply button and choose Print, then spread two fingers on the preview to turn it into a PDF. Tap Share and save it to Files in the same folder. Your receipts then live in one place instead of across shopping emails.
Separate returns from taxes
- Returns: short-term. Keep until the return window closes, then delete.
- Taxes and expenses: long-term. Keep in a folder per year. Tax rules on how long to keep records vary by country, often several years.
- Warranties: keep for the life of the product. Saving warranties.
Make them searchable
Names do most of the work. Notes also reads the text inside scanned receipts, so searching the store name finds them. Saving each receipt to Snugit with the item name means "headphones" brings up the receipt in two seconds when you need to return them.
A once-a-month routine
- Scan any paper receipts still in your wallet.
- Delete return receipts whose window has passed.
- Move tax receipts into the folder for this year.
Download Snugit and find any receipt by what you bought.