> According to an IRS spokesman, there are a number of ways that a taxpayer can meet the recordkeeping requirements to prove a deduction or other expense. Documentation can include hard copy or electronic records such as direct receipts, acknowledgment letters, credit-card receipts, and credit-card statements, that show the payment date, amount, recipient, and any other information required for the particular type of deduction (such as business purpose for a business deduction).
as someone that's been audited by the irs, i can tell you that having printouts of line-items from my web-based billing system, credit card statements, and copies of receipts worked fine. in fact, having everything on a computer in pdf format would probably make the whole process even easier because you could search through them all on a laptop at the audit. the auditor will probably want printouts of the scanned copies at the end, though.
No, where did you get that from? I am suggesting that there are other countries where it is required to hold on the paper copy of certain documents for tax purposes.