But for businesses you will need to keep them a bit longer: for sole traders or limited liability companies, you should keep the records of accounts, expenditure and receipts for at least 6 years, not including the year you are in.For VAT records also you will need to keep your records for a minimum of 6 years.he Inland Revenue (now HMRC) gives guidelines on this, and says that for self assessment returns you need to keep your records for 5 full years after the latest date for filing the return.