Invoice Retention Period: Legal Guide

Everything about invoice retention

Every business must retain all of its supplier or customer invoices following very specific rules. This allows you to have your accounting documents at hand, but also to have clear accounting in the eyes of the Belgian tax administration. Discover how long to retain an invoice and with which methods.

The legal duration to respect for retaining an invoice

Regulations require companies to retain their invoices for a minimum of 7 years, from the date of creation of these accounting documents or from the last related operation indicated in the accounting books. This applies to all invoices, whether they are purchases or sales, deposits or standard invoices.

However, it is very strongly advised to retain your invoices for a minimum of 10 years from a legal perspective. Note also that electronic invoices may, after their 3rd year, be either printed and/or digitally preserved.

Possible methods for properly retaining an invoice

Whatever your activity, retaining an invoice can quickly become complicated if you lack organization. This is mainly due to the fact that today paper invoices are as common as digital invoices. It is thus advisable to combine paper archiving with digital archiving, while respecting the following rules.

The case of digital invoices

Your company must obligatorily retain an invoice sent or received in digital/electronic format in this same format. You can print it to file it in paper folders with your other invoices, but the tax administration may still request during the first 3 years to see the original document in digital format.

After this period, you can simply print it or retain it on computer.

Regarding storage from a technical point of view, you can retain your invoices preferably on computer or external hard drive, or on a server (provided that it is located in the European Union or a foreign country offering the same guarantees as in Belgium).

The case of paper invoices

Unlike electronic invoices, paper invoices can change format without losing legal value, on the sine qua non condition that digitization once again follows precise rules. According to the tax administration, to retain an originally paper invoice on computer, it will be necessary that:

The scan must logically reproduce identically the content, images and colors (in case of color code);
The invoice must be retained in PDF or pdfA/3 format, accompanied by a security device present on the French trust list, such as a server stamp meeting standards;
Any comment relating to an additional charge, or even a remark must appear in the digitization;
The invoice must be properly filed among other invoices respecting chronology, readability and document integrity;
This can be done by the company or by a professional;

If all these measures cannot be guaranteed to be respected, the company will protect itself by preferring to keep the paper format.

To remember:

The alternation of digital and paper invoices must not harm proper chronology;
Double retention through paper archiving and electronic archiving allows for a clearer view of your accounting and easier finding of an invoice, regardless of its original format;
The digitization of a paper invoice must be done according to standards so that it can retain legal value;
It is necessary to respect the deadlines for retaining an invoice according to the rules: mandatory 7 years (depending on your country's legislation), but a period of 10 years is advised;
The risks in case of failure to comply with these regulations can lead to compensation for part of the invoices to the state or suspicion of tax fraud.

Don't hesitate to come share your experiences and impressions in the comments. Don't forget to come test our invoicing software for free online for 15 days. Do you have questions, need tips or want a free demonstration of our software? You can contact us at any time. We will respond as soon as possible.