Receipt for documents handed over

Published byDocMuse

For every time you leave originals with someone else — an accountant, a lawyer, an employer, a bank, an agent. The receipt lists the documents one by one, marks which are originals and which copies, and gives a date for their return. An original handed over without a receipt is later chased with no evidence that it was ever handed over at all.

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Common questions

Do I really need a receipt to leave documents with my own accountant?

That is exactly where it is most often missing. Originals get lost when an office or an accountant changes, or in a dispute — and without a receipt there is no way to show they were handed over at all, let alone which ones.

Why mark which ones are originals?

Because returning a copy in place of an original is the usual way a document disappears unnoticed. The receipt separates the two precisely so that it is clear what is expected back.

What if the person receiving them refuses to sign?

Then do not leave originals. A refusal to sign for someone else's documents is reason enough to hand over copies only, or to ask for a different arrangement.

Is a return date needed?

Yes, and without one the receipt loses half its point. A date turns the duty to return into something that can be overdue, rather than an open-ended promise.