---
title: "Retention Periods for Documents at a Glance"
description: "6, 8, or 10 years? Which retention periods apply to business letters, accounting documents, and books, and how to keep deadlines under control in practice."
type: "wissen"
product: "documents"
slug: "aufbewahrungsfristen-dokumente"
source_language: "de"
target_languages: ["de", "en", "es", "pl", "tr"]
published: "2026-06-10"
status: "publish"
faq_json: [{"q":"What retention periods apply to business records?","a":"Essentially three tiers: 10 years for books, records, annual financial statements, and inventories, 8 years for accounting documents such as invoices, 6 years for commercial and business letters."}, {"q":"Was the period for accounting documents shortened?","a":"Yes, through the Fourth Bureaucracy Relief Act, the retention period for accounting documents was reduced from 10 to 8 years. For details on the transition, it is worth coordinating with your tax advisor."}, {"q":"When does the retention period begin?","a":"As a rule, at the end of the calendar year in which the document was created, the last entry was made, or the annual financial statement was prepared."}, {"q":"Do the periods also apply to digital documents?","a":"Yes. Electronic records are subject to the same periods as paper – originals created electronically, such as e-invoices, must additionally be kept in their original format."}, {"q":"May I destroy paper documents after scanning?","a":"Under the conditions of substitute scanning, generally yes, with exceptions such as notarial deeds. The process should be described in a procedural documentation."}]
language: "en"
source_id: "wissen/aufbewahrungsfristen-dokumente"
source_hash: "66b4db5efcbb53a038977641e04d2fb632e8c9414816d1a7eb3faf5e81d8f17b"
---

For business records in Germany, there are essentially three retention periods: 10 years for books, records, annual financial statements, and inventories, 8 years for accounting documents such as invoices (reduced from the previous 10 years by the Fourth Bureaucracy Relief Act), and 6 years for received and sent commercial and business letters. The key provisions are above all Section 147 of the Fiscal Code (Abgabenordnung) and Section 257 of the Commercial Code (Handelsgesetzbuch).

## The periods at a glance

| Period | Typical documents |
| --- | --- |
| **10 years** | Books and records, inventories, annual financial statements, management reports, opening balance sheet including working instructions |
| **8 years** | Accounting documents – in particular incoming and outgoing invoices, receipts, bank statements |
| **6 years** | Received and sent commercial and business letters, other documents relevant for tax purposes |

Important: The reduction of the document retention period to 8 years is relatively new. How it applies to older holdings and whether longer periods apply in your case (for example, in ongoing proceedings or provisional tax assessments) is best clarified with your tax advisor.

## When the period begins

The period usually does not start on the document date, but at the **end of the calendar year** in which the document was created, the last entry was made, or the financial statement was prepared. An invoice from March therefore runs just as long as one from December of the same year – in practice, you think in annual cohorts, not individual dates.

## The same rules apply digitally – plus one

Electronic records are subject to the same periods as paper. There is also one special feature: originals created electronically – such as e-invoices in XRechnung or ZUGFeRD format – must be kept in their **original format**. And the requirement of immutability applies throughout the entire period. What this means in concrete terms is explained in the article [GoBD-compliant archiving](/en/wissen/gobd-konforme-archivierung.html).

## Manage deadlines in practice instead of memorizing them

No one wants to memorize deadlines individually for thousands of documents. It becomes practical with three principles:

1. **Classify when archiving:** Once a document is recognized as an invoice or business letter, the retention class follows from that.
2. **Anchor the period technically:** In [webRichtung documents](https://www.webrichtung.de/module/documents/), completed documents move into the GoBD archive with Object Lock – optionally for 6, 8, or 10 years, matching the respective retention class. Until then, they are locked against overwriting and deletion.
3. **Stay findable:** Retention alone is not enough – during an audit, you must be able to present documents. documents reads and classifies every document, so you can find it again by content, type, date, or amount.

This turns the abstract table of deadlines into a process that runs on the side: document in, check classification, archive – done.

## Three practical rules to close

1. **When in doubt, keep longer:** Storage is cheap, a missing document during an audit is expensive.
2. **Think in annual cohorts:** Since periods begin at year-end, you can archive holdings by cohort and review them collectively once the period has expired.
3. **Decide on destruction deliberately:** Before deleting or shredding old cohorts, briefly check (or have checked) whether ongoing proceedings or open assessments require longer retention.

This way the deadlines remain a solved administrative matter – instead of a risk running along in the background.

This article provides general information and does not replace legal or tax advice.