Digitalized Receipts and the Tax Authority: What Gets Recognized

The tax authority recognizes digitalized receipts as a matter of principle: The GoBD permit what is called replacement scanning, in which the digital image replaces the paper receipt. The requirement is an orderly process – the scanned image must match the original, be stored immutably, and remain retrievable for the statutory period. In many cases, the paper may be destroyed afterwards.

What “Replacement Scanning” Means

Replacement scanning means: The scanned receipt legally takes the place of the paper. For this to work, the GoBD establish requirements for the process:

• Visual Correspondence: The scan reproduces the original completely and legibly – including reverse sides with relevant content.
• Timely Capture: Receipts are digitalized as soon as possible after receipt.
• Immutability: The digital file is stored in such a way that it cannot be changed or deleted without detection.
• Traceability: The procedure is documented – who scans, how quality is checked, where the files go (process documentation).

When the Paper Must Stay

Not every receipt can go to the recycling bin after scanning. Exceptions include in particular documents that must be retained or presented in original form by law – such as notarized documents or papers with special evidentiary function. Customs documents and certain certificates can also be special cases. Before you destroy entire record collections, it is worth checking with your tax advisor – once destroyed, the original is gone.

Process Documentation: Small Effort, Big Impact

Many hesitate at the term, but for small businesses a brief, straightforward description is often sufficient: Which receipts are scanned, by whom, with which device, how is legibility verified, where do the digital files go, how is storage protected? One page describing your actual process is worth more than twenty pages of theory that nobody follows.

What a Audit-Proof Process Looks Like

1. File receipts directly: Digital files go into webRichtung documents by upload – without the detour through scattered local folders.
2. Evaluate with AI: AI evaluation processes the receipt; you review the result in the document collection.
3. Archive Organized: Completed receipts are stored in the archive according to your documented process rules.
4. Stay Retrievable: During an audit, you find receipts via archive search – instead of rummaging through boxes.

For how to approach getting started with digitalization in general, see the article Digitalize Receipts: The Simple Way.

The Most Important Point in One Sentence

The tax authority accepts digital receipts when your process is orderly – what matters is correspondence with the original, immutability, and retrievability, not the medium.

In practice, this means: A clean scanning process, appropriate process documentation, and organized storage go together. As a low-risk entry point, documents turns this into a controlled knowledge repository – with less paper in the office and reliably retrievable receipts when an audit comes.

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