Retaining of tax-relevant documents

A popular New Year’s resolution is to rid oneself of the unneeded ballast of former years. And while some of our New Year’s resolutions tend to melt away faster than the snow during the first two weeks of January in Germany, if you plan to get rid of the burden of old business and tax files, the following notes may be helpful to you.

Minimum retention periods start with the end of the year during which the last entry in the books was made, the financial statements were approved, inventory was determined or business correspondence was sent out. The periods vary between 6 and 10 years, depending on the type of documents involved.

In 2011, you may start to destroy the following documents:

Business records prepared in 2000 or earlier. These include financial statements, management reports,

  • inventories, opening balance sheets, accounting records, cash reports.
  • Payroll accounts, business correspondence and tax evidence prepared or received no later than 2004.
  • Invoices, payment vouchers, construction contracts and acceptance reports received by the recipient of construction work or services or other work or services performed in connection with property no later than in 2008.

You should note that you may not destroy the documents if they may still be needed for tax purposes. This is the case if the statute of limitations for the tax assessment has not yet expired, such as when external tax audit procedures have started, a tax assessment is not yet final, penal proceedings in tax matters or proceedings to impose administrative fines have been initiated, opposition proceedings are going on, or proceedings before the fiscal courts are planned or pending.

Please also note that it may be advisable to keep some documents beyond the minimum periods for special

reasons, e.g. as evidence or proof.