Tax season last year, you spent six hours hunting receipts across Gmail, Apple Wallet, Uber, three apps and a shoebox. This year, you spend 15 minutes a month and the whole pack is ready on the first of January.
The workflow is mostly discipline. Here is the bit that isn't.
Capture receipts to one folder
Every receipt — email confirmation, app screenshot, supplier PDF — gets saved to `/Receipts/<year>/<month>` as a PDF. For email receipts, use 'Print to PDF' rather than forwarding. For app receipts, screenshot then convert.
Do it the day you receive them. The five seconds it takes when fresh saves the 20 minutes you'll spend reconstructing later.
Name with date and merchant first
Use `YYYY-MM-DD_<merchant>_<amount>.pdf`. Dates first means the folder sorts chronologically. The merchant lets you find a specific purchase. The amount lets you reconcile against statements at a glance.
It feels pedantic. It pays back enormously when your accountant asks for the receipt for that £247 from August.
Merge into a monthly pack
On the first of each month, open last month's folder and merge every receipt into a single PDF: `2025-08_Receipts.pdf`. You can then file the originals into a `_raw` subfolder for backup, but the merged pack is your working artefact.
A monthly pack is what your accountant wants, what your expense system wants, and what your future self wants when reconciling.
Compress and store
Receipt PDFs often have huge embedded scans. Compress the monthly pack down to under 5 MB before archiving. Then drop it into `/Archive/Receipts/<year>/` and forget it until needed.
For tax-time prep, run merge across all 12 monthly packs into one annual document. Twelve clicks, one file, done.
FAQ
Should I keep the original receipts or only the merged pack?
Keep both for the current tax year. After your return is filed, you can delete originals if your jurisdiction permits, but most accountants recommend keeping for 6–7 years.
What about receipts that arrive as images, not PDFs?
Convert them to PDF first — most operating systems have a 'print to PDF' option, or use a print-to-PDF tool. PDFs sort more cleanly and merge cleanly with other documents.
How do I handle subscription receipts that all look the same?
Include the month in the filename — `2025-08-15_Notion_Subscription_10.pdf`. The amount disambiguates if you change tiers; the date confirms the billing period.
Can I automate this?
Partially. Email rules can auto-save certain senders to a folder. Beyond that, the monthly merge takes two minutes and benefits from a human eye catching duplicates and errors.
Receipt archiving is boring until it isn't. Set the workflow up this Sunday and your future self at tax time will be grateful. Merge your first monthly pack in Flint and feel the difference.