How long to keep invoices in Germany: 8 years since 2025

People who move their business to Germany from the UK or the US often bring a shorter number in their heads. Self-employed people in the UK keep records for at least five years after the 31 January filing deadline, according to HMRC’s guidance. The IRS in the US sets three years as the default. Germany was always longer. Until 2024, invoices had to be kept for ten years. Since 1 January 2025, it is eight.

The change came with Germany’s Fourth Bureaucracy Relief Act, and it applies retroactively to older documents. Anyone still clearing out by the ten-year rule is storing two years too many.

Which periods apply since 2025?

The core rule is § 147 of the Fiscal Code (AO). For invoices, § 14b UStG adds the same eight years. Commercial law in § 257 of the Commercial Code followed suit.

Criterion	Period	Examples
Books, annual accounts, inventories, opening balance sheet	10 years	General ledger, balance sheet, management report
Accounting vouchers	8 years	Incoming and outgoing invoices, bank statements, receipts
Business letters sent and received	6 years	Quotes, order confirmations, correspondence
Other tax-relevant documents	6 years	Price lists, calculation sheets

Source: § 147(1) and (3) AO, version from 1 January 2025

The period does not start on the invoice date. It starts at the end of the calendar year in which the invoice was issued or received. An invoice dated 2 January and one dated 30 December of the same year expire on the same day.

What can go in 2026?

Year of issue

2018

Period starts at year end

31 Dec 2018

Period for accounting vouchers

8 years

Period ends

31 Dec 2026

Under the old ten-year rule it would have been

31 Dec 2028

Earliest destruction date

1 January 2027

So during 2026, invoices from 2017 and earlier may go. From 1 January 2027, the 2018 batch follows. Books and annual accounts from the same years stay, because they keep the ten-year period.

The transition rule is in Article 97 § 19a of the Introductory Act to the Fiscal Code, and for VAT in § 27(40) UStG. The shorter period applies to all documents whose old period had not expired on 31 December 2024. Banks, insurers and investment firms are treated differently: under the Fiscal Code and the Commercial Code, they keep the ten-year period for accounting vouchers.

When you must keep them longer

Eight years is a minimum, not a licence. Under § 147(3) AO, the period does not end as long as the documents matter for a tax whose assessment period is still open. That covers three typical situations:

• a tax audit has been announced or is under way
• you have filed an objection or a court case against a tax assessment
• tax returns were filed late, so the assessment period ends later

Non-tax reasons add to that. Warranty claims, lawsuits, or invoices for equipment you still depreciate. An invoice for a machine you bought in 2017 and still use proves its purchase price. You keep it.

How to store e-invoices

The original of an e-invoice is the XML file. Keep it in the format you received it in, unchanged. For ZUGFeRD, the Finance Ministry’s guidance says the structured XML part is enough, provided its integrity is ensured. The PDF view is only needed if it contains information the data does not.

On the technical side, the ministry’s second letter of 15 October 2025 makes one point clear. Storing e-invoices outside a GoBD-compliant archive system does not, on its own, breach the VAT retention rule in § 14b UStG. You still must not alter the files. The requirements of the Fiscal Code and the GoBD rules stay in place, so businesses that must keep double-entry books still need unalterable archiving.

One folder on a laptop with no backup is still a bad idea. One theft, and eight years of records are gone. Keep a second copy in another place, at the very least.

How the XML gets into your system in the first place is covered in receive e-invoices in Germany. When you have to issue e-invoices yourself is in e-invoicing in Germany.

Leaving Germany or closing the business

Expats often ask what happens to their records when they move on. The short answer: the duty stays. If you close your German business in 2026, its 2026 invoices must be kept until the end of 2034, and the books even longer. Moving abroad does not change that.

Where the files may sit is regulated in § 146 AO. Electronic records may be kept in another EU country without permission, as long as the German tax office can still access the data in full. For invoices, you must tell the tax office where they are kept (§ 14b(2) UStG). Keeping them in a non-EU country, say in the UK or the US after a move, requires approval from the tax office on application. Before you cancel your German invoicing software or cloud account, export everything and decide where it will live for the next eight years.

Paper, scans and thermal receipts

Under the GoBD, you may scan paper invoices and destroy the paper afterwards, as long as the process is documented. That sounds heavier than it is: a few pages describing who scans, how it is checked and where the files live.

With thermal till receipts, scanning is self-defence. The print often fades long before eight years are up, and an illegible receipt is almost worthless in an audit. Anyone collecting many small amount invoices should scan them while booking.

Data protection and the right to deletion

Invoices contain personal data, and the GDPR requires deletion once the purpose has gone. That seems to clash with retention duties. It does not. Article 17(3) GDPR exempts data that must be kept because of a legal obligation. While the eight years run, you may not delete, even if a client asks you to.

The flip side: once the period ends, that reason disappears. Invoices from 2015 still sitting in the cloud, with none of the exceptions applying, are a data protection issue rather than a tax one. One clean-up each January handles both.

• Identify the year whose eight years ended on 31 December
• Rule out open audits, objections and late returns
• Pull out invoices for assets you still use or depreciate
• Leave books and annual accounts of the same year alone, they keep ten years
• Destroy paper securely and delete files for good, backups included
• Note briefly which year was deleted, when and by whom

Do not forget your own invoices

The duty runs both ways. Copies of every invoice you issue must be kept for eight years as well. Invoicing software does this for you while your subscription runs. Before switching provider, export everything, as PDF and, where available, as XML. Cancellations and corrections belong in the archive too, see cancel or correct an invoice.

If you pull records together from several sources, such as a shop, a till and bookkeeping software, a proper archive becomes a data project. Specialists such as OnlineBuilders work on exactly that kind of task.

The concrete next step: check whether there are still folders of invoices from 2017 or earlier in your storage, and whether any audit or objection is open for those years. If not, they can go.

Check an invoice for mandatory details: Tick what your invoice contains.

Questions people ask

Does the eight-year rule apply to old invoices too?

Yes, to every invoice whose ten-year period had not yet expired on 31 December 2024. Banks, insurers and investment firms follow a different transition rule.

How long do private individuals have to keep invoices?

Under German VAT law, only for work on their home or property: two years. If you claim tradesman costs in your income tax return, keep the invoices at least until the tax assessment arrives. Keeping purchase receipts longer for warranty claims is often sensible too.

Can I scan paper invoices and throw them away?

Generally yes, if the scanning follows a documented, traceable process under the German GoBD rules. That means a short procedure document describing who scans, how it is checked and where files are stored. With thermal paper, scanning is advisable anyway because it fades.

Can I keep my records on a server outside Germany?

Electronic records may be kept in another EU country without special permission. Keeping them outside the EU requires approval from the tax office. Whatever you choose, the tax office must be able to access the data during an audit.