A working DJ generates five kinds of paperwork a year: invoices, contracts, receipts, mileage, and deposit records. Keep all five, in one place, for as long as your tax authority can ask about them (usually three years, often longer if you’re self-employed) and an audit or a dispute is a five-minute lookup instead of a scramble. Here’s exactly what to keep and for how long.
This is general guidance, not tax or legal advice. Retention periods and rules vary by country and change over time. Check with your local tax authority or an accountant for your specific situation.
The five records every working DJ needs
| Record | What it proves | Where it comes from |
|---|---|---|
| Invoices + proof of payment | What you actually earned, and when | Every gig, itemised |
| Signed contract or booking agreement | The terms you agreed to, and what happens if either side backs out | Anything beyond a casual low-stakes gig |
| Expense receipts | What it cost you to earn the fee, the basis for any deduction | Gear, software, insurance, booking-agent fees |
| Mileage log | Business driving, dated and itemised | Every gig you drove to |
| Deposit records | What was taken up front, when, against which booking | Any gig with a deposit-and-balance structure |
Each one answers a different question if you’re ever asked to prove something. An invoice proves income. A contract proves terms. A receipt proves an expense was real and business-related. A mileage log proves a deduction wasn’t invented after the fact. Missing one doesn’t just create a gap; it removes your only evidence for that specific claim.
Income records: invoices and proof they were paid
Every gig needs an invoice, even the cash ones, not as a request for payment (you’ve already been paid) but as the record that the income existed and what it was for. Keep the invoice itself plus something showing it was paid: a bank transfer reference, a payment-app confirmation, or a simple note of the date and method for cash. What to include on a tax invoice for a DJ gig covers the fields the invoice itself needs; this is about keeping the finished document afterward, not writing it.
Contracts and booking agreements
For anything beyond a casual, low-stakes gig, a signed contract is the record that protects you if a booking falls apart: cancellation terms, what happens if you can’t perform, liability. DJ contract vs. invoice covers what each document needs; keep the signed version on file for as long as you’d need it to matter, which in practice means at least as long as you keep the matching invoice, since a dispute over a paid gig can reference both.
Expense receipts
If you’re deducting anything (gear, travel, software subscriptions, a booking agent’s cut, liability insurance) you need a receipt or invoice for it, not just a bank statement line. A card statement shows money left your account; it doesn’t show what you bought or that it was for the business. A clear photo of a paper receipt is enough for most tax authorities, but capture it close to the purchase. A shoebox of faded thermal-paper receipts at year-end is a real way to lose real deductions.
Mileage logs
Business driving is one of the most heavily scrutinised deductions, and it’s also the easiest to lose entirely if you don’t log it as you go. Record the date, the destination, and the business purpose (gig name and venue) for every drive. An app that tracks it automatically is easier than a notebook, but either works as long as it’s contemporaneous. Reconstructing a year of mileage from memory at tax time rarely survives a close look; a trip-by-trip log does.
Deposit records
If you take deposits, the deposit itself needs its own record, separate from the balance: how much, when it landed, and which booking it belongs to. This matters for two different reasons. It’s part of your income record (a deposit is taxable in the year it’s paid, not the year the gig happens), and it’s what you’d point to if a booking is cancelled and there’s a dispute over whether the deposit is refundable. How to track unpaid gigs covers keeping deposits and balances straight while a gig is still in progress; this is about keeping that same record afterward.
How long to actually keep all of this
The short version: three years minimum, seven years if you want the safer margin. Most tax authorities can review a filed return for a set number of years after you file it (commonly three) which is the floor for how long to keep the records behind it. Being self-employed pushes many accountants to recommend the longer end, and if a return understated income by a large amount, or wasn’t filed at all, the authority’s window to look back is longer still or has no limit. When in doubt, keep the current year plus the past six on file, and only clear out anything older once you’re sure nothing about that year is still open.
Keep the record where the work already happens
The easiest way to keep five years of gig records isn’t a separate archive. It’s making sure the records exist properly the first time, in one place you’re already using. SettleBeat turns every gig into a stored, tax-ready invoice with the fee, deposit and payment date attached, so your income and deposit records build themselves as a side effect of getting paid. Play the gig; we’ll handle the invoicing →