Can I print my invoice and delete the email?

Print it, yes. Delete the file, no. The CRA says records originally produced in electronic format stay in an electronic readable format, even if you have paper printouts. Revenu Québec also asks you to keep them on the same medium.

What about an invoice I receive on paper?

That is a different rule. The CRA accepts a paper document kept as an electronic image, on certain conditions. Going from paper to a file can work, while a printout does not replace the file you received.

Invoice received by email: is a printout enough?

The short answer

No, a printout alone is not enough. An invoice you receive by email is an electronic document, and it has to stay one. You can print it if that helps you, but you still keep the file.

What the CRA says

The Canada Revenue Agency is direct about it. Records and supporting documents originally produced in electronic format have to be kept in an electronic readable format, even if you have paper printouts. The rule comes from the law: subsection 230(4.1) of the Income Tax Act covers anyone who keeps records electronically, and the Excise Tax Act says the same for GST/HST.

What Revenu Québec says

In Quebec, section 35.1 of the Tax Administration Act asks you to keep registers and supporting documents held on an electronic medium in intelligible form, on that same medium, for the whole retention period. Revenu Québec's guide IN-155 adds that you must take the steps needed to ensure their integrity during that time. The Act lets the Minister grant a dispensation, on conditions. Without one, the rule applies.

For how long?

As a general rule, six years after the end of the last year the document relates to. For a business with a December 31 year end, an invoice received in March 2026 is kept until the end of 2032. We walk through the calculation in our article on how long to keep receipts and tax records.

Paper and files are not symmetrical

This is where many people slip. The CRA accepts a paper document kept as an electronic image, on certain conditions. It is easy to assume the reverse also works. It does not: printing a file does not release you from keeping it.

Four simple habits

Save the attachment as it came. Keep the file you received, unchanged.
If the invoice is in the text of the email, keep the email itself.
File by year. One folder per fiscal year lets you find an invoice in seconds.
Back it up. The CRA recommends backup copies so you do not lose your files by accident.

An inbox is not a filing cabinet. It fills up, it gets cleaned out and it can be closed, while your six years keep running.

What we do

You upload the file as you received it, and we handle the rest: we file it under the right year and take it into account in your books. If an outside party keeps your electronic records, they must still be available to the CRA when asked, which is exactly what a well organized file is for. It is part of our bookkeeping service.