Retention periods for electronic invoices – how long to archive? 

How long do companies have to archive electronic invoices?

Retention periods for invoices vary by country. For example, in Germany, the Fiscal Code mandates a 10-year retention period, while other countries have similar but varying requirements. The retention period typically begins at the end of the calendar year in which the invoice was issued, a common practice in many jurisdictions.

• Example: You receive an electronic invoice on 1 February 2023. You must keep or archive this invoice until 31 December 2033.

It does not matter whether the invoices are archived and stored in paper form or as electronic invoices. According to the Fiscal Code, the retention obligation applies to both. Once this term elapses, the invoices can be destroyed.

Who has to archive invoices and other tax documents?

Companies worldwide must comply with local retention periods for invoices and tax documents, ensuring transparency and compliance with international standards. This also applies to the self-employed, freelancers and small business owners.

Why is there a retention requirement of 10 years for electronic invoices, etc.?

Retaining invoices ensures that business transactions are documented and traceable, aiding in international audits and compliance checks. Whether they are still in the form of paper invoices or already kept as electronic invoices is irrelevant when it comes to retention.

Preventing and detecting fraud is a key reason why many countries have enacted retention requirements for invoices and business records, overseen by local tax authorities. Tax audits aside, it is always in the interests of the company itself to ensure transparency with regard to its financial transactions. This ensures that you have all the data needed for assessing the financial and business development of your company and making effective plans for the future.

Which different retention periods are there and for which business documents?

Different countries have varying statutory retention periods for business documents, typically ranging from 6 to 10 years, depending on the document type. A short overview and a list of common documents is provided below:

A six-year retention period applies to:

• Offers and quotations
• Import/export documents and customs documents
• Company audit reports
• Commercial & business letters

The following documents are subject to a ten-year retention period:

• Partial payments
• Delivery bills (If the delivery bill is also the invoice.)
• Invoices
• Accounting documents
• Outgoing invoices
• Depreciation documents
• Bank statements
• Financial statements

Of course, this is not a complete list of the documents and tax records subject to retention requirements.

In what form should invoices be archived?

Digital archiving of electronic invoices is recommended globally to ensure compliance with data protection regulations and local tax laws. You should then digitize any invoices that you have in paper form. It is all about choosing an archiving strategy that suits you: more on this in the article about the scanning process. Before selecting an archiving solution, you should consider the various requirements that apply to the archive. In legal terms, two of these requirements are central:

Archiving solutions should support multilingual interfaces and comply with international data protection regulations like GDPR, facilitating global use.

What does audit-proof mean in connection with electronically archived invoices?

Audit-proof archiving must meet legal requirements during the retention period, ensuring compliance with international standards for data integrity and security.

• Completeness
• Immutability and access protection
• Security
• Availability
• Traceability
• Readability and suitability for automated processing

 One thing is worth mentioning at this point: Audit-proof archiving is not a purely technical process. Organizational aspects also play an important role here, such as the process documentation that guides the systems and employees involved in the archiving process at the company.

Where can invoices be archived electronically?

When using digital archiving for electronic invoices, companies must often inform local tax authorities about the location of the digital archive, ensuring compliance with regional regulations. Naturally, companies based in Germany should also store their electronic invoices in this country. In the case of on-premises electronic archiving, this does not pose any problems. And the same should apply to an archiving system in the cloud. In case of doubt, you will need approval from the tax authorities. Please consider: Auditors must also be able to view your electronic archive online at any time.

How should electronic invoices be archived?

The shift from paper to electronic invoices is a global trend, driven by the need for efficiency and compliance with digital standards. So if you already receive your invoices electronically, it follows that you must continue to process these electronic invoices digitally and ultimately archive them electronically. If you receive your invoices as an email with an attached PDF, keep this invoice format and archive the PDF invoice. Of course, this requires that the digital invoice contain all the mandatory information that an invoice must have.