Guide
ATO myDeductions vs. a receipt scanner app: what each one is actually for
myDeductions, the free record-keeping tool built into the ATO app, is the right place to start if you want your deduction records to line up with what the ATO expects at tax time. It is not, by design, a general receipt archive: records live on one device with no automatic backup, and you can only upload once per financial year. A receipt scanner app is not a replacement for it — it is what you use for everything myDeductions was never built to do, and the two work together rather than against each other.
What myDeductions actually is
myDeductions is a free record-keeping tool inside the ATO app. As an individual or employee you can use it to record work-related expenses, working-from-home hours and work-related trips (a car logbook); as a sole trader you can also record business income. At tax time you email the records to yourself or your tax agent, or upload them so they pre-fill your return. Source: ato.gov.au, "myDeductions" (QC52615), read 2026-09-25.
It is a genuinely useful tool and this page is not trying to talk you out of it — it is free, it is built by the people who run the tax system, and pre-filling your return from it is a real convenience nothing third-party can offer. The point of this page is the parts of the job it was not designed to do, because those are the parts people assume it covers and then find out otherwise in July.
Where myDeductions stops, by the ATO's own description
Three limits, stated on the ATO's own page rather than inferred: records are stored locally on your device with no automatic backup — you back them up yourself, to a separate location, or risk losing them if the device is lost, broken or stolen. You can only use myDeductions on a single device through the year, because records from multiple devices can't be consolidated. And you can only upload your records to the ATO once per financial year.
Source, same page: "Records you add are stored locally on your device. You should back up your data to a separate location regularly using the Back up feature in myDeductions in case your device is broken, lost or stolen as this isn't an automatic process," and "Only record your information on a single device throughout the year, because you can't consolidate sets of records and you can only upload once per financial year." Neither is a criticism of the tool — it is built for one clean upload at tax time, not for being your everyday receipt archive across a phone upgrade, a shared household, or a business with more than one person touching expenses.
What myDeductions doesn't do
It doesn't extract anything from a photo — you type the amount, date and category yourself against each receipt image you attach. It doesn't group receipts by client or project the way a freelancer juggling several jobs would want. And it isn't built to hand a formatted expense report to anyone other than the ATO or your registered tax agent by email.
None of that is a flaw in the tool; it simply is not what myDeductions is for. It exists to get your deduction records into the ATO's own systems cleanly, once a year. A freelancer who needs to invoice a client for reimbursed expenses, a small business owner reconciling a year of card statements, or anyone who just wants their receipts searchable by merchant and amount is asking a different tool to do a different job.
Where a receipt scanner app fits alongside it
Use a scanner app for the everyday capture-and-organise job — photograph the receipt the day you get it, let extraction pull the date, merchant and total into an editable record, group and search across as many devices as you actually use — and keep myDeductions for what it does best: the once-a-year, ATO-native upload or the email to your tax agent.
This is not a sales pitch dressed as a comparison: our own AI Receipt Scanner doesn't file or lodge anything with the ATO either, and it shouldn't claim to. What it adds is multi-device, searchable, groupable records year-round, with export to Excel, CSV or PDF (a Pro feature) for handing to an accountant or a client — the exact gap myDeductions leaves by design. If all you need is a clean once-a-year deduction upload and you're disciplined about a single device and manual backups, myDeductions alone may be all you need.
How long to actually keep the records, either way
Generally five years from the date you lodge the tax return the record relates to, for individuals — longer in specific circumstances (for example while a review or dispute is ongoing). Source: ato.gov.au, "Records you need to keep." This applies whether the record lives in myDeductions, a scanner app, or a shoebox.
This page covers Australian federal tax only, is not tax advice, and doesn't cover every circumstance — a longer retention period can apply depending on your situation. Confirm your own retention period with the ATO or a registered tax agent rather than relying on a general rule from any website, this one included.
Questions
Common questions
Is myDeductions the same as a receipt scanner app?
No. myDeductions is a free ATO tool for recording deduction data yourself and getting it into your tax return once a year. A receipt scanner app extracts data from a photo automatically, keeps a searchable year-round archive across devices, and exports to formats like Excel or PDF for an accountant or client — jobs myDeductions isn't built for.
Does myDeductions back up my receipts automatically?
No — the ATO's own guidance states records are stored locally on your device and backup is a manual step you have to do yourself, regularly, to a separate location. If your device is lost, broken or stolen without a recent backup, those records are gone.
Can I use myDeductions on more than one device?
The ATO advises using a single device throughout the year, because records from multiple devices can't be consolidated and you can only upload once per financial year. If you regularly switch phones or share expense-tracking across a household, that's a real limitation to plan around.
Do I still need a receipt scanner app if I use myDeductions?
Depends what you need. If your only goal is a once-a-year deduction upload to the ATO and you're disciplined about single-device use and backups, myDeductions alone can cover it. If you want searchable records across the year, automatic data extraction from a photo, or a formatted report for an accountant or client, that's a separate job a scanner app does and myDeductions doesn't.
How long do I need to keep tax receipts in Australia?
Generally five years from the date you lodge the relevant tax return, per ato.gov.au — longer in some circumstances. This is general information, not tax advice; confirm the retention period that applies to your situation with the ATO or a registered tax agent.