How long do you have to keep invoices? Entrepreneurs ask themselves this question again and again. The answer: Tax and commercial law forces everyone to archive invoices and other receipts. The law is complicated and mistakes can be costly. But if you follow a few rules of the game, most pitfalls can be avoided.
Table of contents:
- Retention periods for invoices
- Archiving paper invoices and receipts
- What do you need to pay attention to when digitizing invoices?
- Archive electronic invoices
Retention periods for invoices
What applies if you have a large company?
The Commercial Code clearly answers the question of the retention period for invoices and other accounting documents: 8 Jahre lang. The possibility of archiving on data carriers is also available there if this corresponds to the principles of proper accounting.
What applies if you have a small company?
Das Handelsrecht gilt allerdings nur für Unternehmen, die bilanzierungspflichtig sind. Für Kleinunternehmer und Freiberufler ist § 147 der Abgabenordnung (AO) relevant. Dort ist für Buchungsbelege ebenfalls eine 8-jährige Aufbewahrungsfrist mit der Möglichkeit der elektronischen Archivierung vorgeschrieben. Sie müssen also in jedem Fall Rechnungen aufheben, und zwar acht Jahre lang.
Additional Information:HGB §257 paragraphs 3-4 ; AO § 147
Archiving paper invoices and receipts
What do you have to expect if you don’t archive invoices?
Traders, self-employed people and freelancers are obliged to cooperate in a tax audit. If booking-relevant documents cannot be found, the clerk will make an estimate. This is usually higher than the actual amounts and cannot be refuted.
Penalties are often added to the excessive tax demands. These can include fines and even prison sentences for tax evasion or breach of the obligation to maintain proper accounting records. Therefore, documents that are relevant to tax collection must be archived in an orderly and comprehensible manner.
How do you file receipts on thermal paper?
Thermopapierbelege spielen meist bei den Betriebsausgaben eine Rolle und sind acht Jahre lang aufzubewahren.
But what’s the point of keeping them if they’re no longer readable? If the worst comes to the worst, you can only show the tax officer an illegible receipt. The tax office would then no longer be able to check the minimum content for invoices in accordance with Section 14 (4) UStG. This means that the input tax deduction would be lost.
However, when receiving thermal paper receipts, make photocopies or scan them, This is considered proof of the contents of the invoice. This is clearly regulated in the sales tax application decree.
Additional Information:UStG §14, paragraphs 4-5
What if you lose bills?
This usually doesn’t happen, but unfortunately sometimes it does: a receipt wasn’t filed immediately or the invoice is lost.
If this happens, the easiest thing to do is to ask the issuer for a copy. This should be marked as such and archived. If a duplicate cannot be obtained, you can create a replacement receipt yourself and file it in place of the lost receipt. In this way you comply with the principle “No booking without a receipt”.
Force Majeure: What if your bills are destroyed by fire or water?
Paper is not indestructible. For example, these documents are often irretrievably lost after break-ins or fires. If you have suffered such a total loss, then it is advisable to get expert help from a tax advisor, the Chamber of Industry and Commerce or a professional association as quickly as possible.
Since practically all payments are now made cashless, you can reconstruct and explain income and expenses for a simple income-surplus calculation (EÜR) based on the movements in the business account. Banks archive cash flows for at least ten years and can make them accessible to you. However, this has its price.
Do you need to keep the paper receipt of scanned invoices?
In principle, the tax office can require that original invoices be presented. This initially destroys the idea of a paperless office.
But there are exceptions: Tax-relevant documents may be destroyed if “the procedure and processes comply with the GoB/GoBS and storage in the original is not also required under other legal regulations.”
You can archive invoices on data media or image media and destroy paper receipts if the following requirements are met:
- During the retention period, the documents must always be available and made immediately readable.
- The documents must be protected against loss and falsification.
- The originals may only be destroyed after the newly scanned and archived documents have been backed up.
**In summary this means: **You may destroy paper receipts if the immutability and quick access to the scans are guaranteed and the archiving procedure is correct.
The technology and organization must be documented so that the processes remain traceable. You must of course observe the regulations of the principles of proper computer-supported accounting systems (GoBS) as well as data access and the verifiability of digital documents (GDPdU).
Additional Information:Section 147 Paragraph 2 AO ; Letter from the BMF dated February 1, 1984 published in BStBl I p. 155; BMF letter dated January 29, 2004 - IV B 7 - S 7280 - 19/04 paragraph 72
What do you need to pay attention to when digitizing invoices?
Which device do you need to digitize invoices with?
Digitalization can be carried out in a variety of ways. Whether you do this using a mobile scanning app or a high-end scanner is irrelevant. It is important that the documents in your digital storage remain readable and unchangeable.
For medium volumes of documents, a standard feed scanner with a resolution of 300 dpi or a photo with a cell phone is sufficient. For good quality photos, 600 dpi is sufficient.
What format do you need to save invoices in?
The question remains about the format. Since the digitized documents must be unchangeable, working formats such as .doc, .odt or .xls are not possible. However, certain PDF files are considered suitable because once saved, they cannot be changed.
The uniform format for electronic invoices ZUGFeRD (Central User Guide of the Electronic Invoice Forum Germany) also uses the PDF/A format. This was published as an ISO standard in 2005 and is based on a manufacturer-independent standard that is visible to everyone. PDF/A was specifically developed for long-term storage and ensures that the image of the receipt can be displayed permanently.
What file name should you save invoices under?
The file name should meet requirements such as quick findability or assignability. When scanning, a name such as “Scan_Date_Scan_Time” is usually assigned automatically by the system. Tools allow you to assign meaningful names and thus make work easier, especially when a specific document is being searched for.
If you only need to archive a medium number of documents, you can assign names based on the old system in the paper folders, i.e. sorting by year, date and name. The following date format makes sense: year_month_day. The year has four digits, the month and day always have two digits. This means that electronic sorting is easier and the documents are automatically stored in order by date.
You can add the name of the invoice issuer and other information behind the date. For example, such a name would look like this: 20160905_Ikea_Tisch. You can already tell from the name what it is. If you want to prevent the receipts from being sorted alphabetically by day, add a consecutive number in front of the name, which then takes precedence.
**Using an OCR program makes sense **as the data can be transferred straight into accounting using the appropriate interface. Searching for an invoice for which you only know the year and the item, for example, is also significantly simplified because the invoice content can be read electronically.
How should you organize your electronic filing?
The folder structure within the electronic filing system can be similar to the system that you have previously used in the form of paper.
One makes sense here too primary order by years. Whether you then divide further by month depends on the invoice volume. Within the time period, you can then sort according to incoming invoices, outgoing invoices, cash receipts, etc.
A folder for each document type or, for a few copies, an indicator such as on, off, bar in front of the file name helps with sorting and finding. Your file tree would then look like this: year/month/document type/document name.
Archive electronic invoices
The basic rule is: Electronic receipts must also be saved in electronic form, so all invoices that are not received in paper form should be archived digitally.
What do you have to consider according to the GoBD?
Since 2016, the principles for the proper management and storage of books, records and documents in electronic form and for data access (GoBD) have replaced the GoB. The taxpayer is solely responsible for the accuracy of his or her accounting. This also applies if he has delegated these tasks in whole or in part to a third party such as a tax advisor.
The same principles apply as for manually created books. They must be understandable, clear, complete, correct, timely and unchangeable. Continuous recording and order must also be ensured.
Further information:GoBD
In what form or format do you need to store electronic invoices?
The format in which electronic invoices are received must be maintained. However, internal conversion to another format is permitted if the original format is linked to the new one. However, you may not archive paper copies instead of electronic invoices. This would be inadmissible.
Do you need to archive invoice emails?
As long as these are emails with an electronic invoice attached, they can be answered quickly:** not at all**. The email is just an envelope and you wouldn’t keep it.
On which medium do you have to archive electronic invoices?
The electronic document must be stored in Original condition with verification documentation on a non-modifiable data carrier take place.
The latter poses problems for companies due to changing storage media in their own IT systems. Even CDs that can only be written once age and data can be lost within the retention period.
One solution that allows you to archive invoices without fear of data loss is to use archiving software or a document management system. Of course it is too GetMyInvoices ideally suited for this. Try it!
