Recordkeeping – Motor Vehicles – Dealers

You must keep records of all the purchases and sales that your business makes. Your records must show that you collected, reported, and forwarded taxes as required.

Records you must keep

  • Normal books of account (books of account can include information stored on computers)
  • Documents that support entries in the books of account
    • Bank statements
    • Sales documents
      • Examples:
        • Invoices, including any credit invoices
        • Rebates
        • Receipts
        • Trade-ins
        • Contracts
    • Purchase documents
      • Examples:
        • Vehicles you bought to sell
        • Items used in the dealership
  • All schedules or working papers used to prepare your sales tax returns
  • Copies of sales tax resale or exemption certificates
  • Tax returns and payments

What your records must show

  • Gross receipts from sales and services made in Idaho — even sales that you or your customer might consider exempt from tax. You must also keep records that prove where delivery took place when you deliver the product or service somewhere other than your place of business.
  • The identity of customers claiming an exemption, the type of exemption, and what you sold exempt.
  • All deductions claimed in filing returns.
  • The total purchase price of anything bought for sale, rental, lease, or your own use.
  • The amount of sales tax collected from your customer or that you paid to a vendor.

You must keep all sales and use tax records for a minimum of four years.