Invoice retention requirements: how long and in what format must you keep them?

"Can I throw away that folder from 2018?" It's one of the most common questions accountants hear. The answer depends on what's in it and what your archive looks like. Here are the complete rules.

The main rule: 7 years

Tax authorities require you to keep all records for 7 years, from the end of the calendar year in which the invoice (or document) was issued. An invoice from 2026 may only be discarded from 1 January 2034 onwards.

"All records" includes:

• Sales invoices + credit notes
• Purchase invoices + receipts
• Bank statements + cash book
• VAT returns + correspondence with tax authorities
• Payroll records
• Contracts + quotes (relevant to the invoice)
• Inventory lists

The exception: 10 years for real estate

Have you claimed VAT deduction on the purchase, construction or renovation of a property? Then for those specific documents, a retention period of 10 years applies. This is due to the review period for real estate.

Can it be digital? Yes — with conditions

Tax authorities accept digital storage if:

1. The invoice is authentic and unchanged. A PDF you receive can be stored; the PDF must be retrievable identically later.
2. The invoice remains readable. No formats that can't be opened in 5 years' time.
3. You can prove you received the invoice. An email with PDF attachment is sufficient; simply copy-pasting into a Word document is not enough.
4. You can present it quickly on request. A tax authority inspector must be able to see a specific invoice within "reasonable time".

Practically, this means: scan all your paper receipts as soon as they arrive, and store them in a structured system (by year, by month, by supplier).

Can the paper version be thrown away?

Yes — if you've stored the digital copy correctly, you can destroy the paper originals. Many entrepreneurs keep them physically for another year to be safe, but legally it's not necessary.

Common mistakes

• Only keeping the PDF of a sales invoice. You must also be able to show the underlying quote/contract and proof of payment (bank statement).
• Throwing away fuel receipts. For VAT deduction on fuel, the receipt must be kept, not just the credit card statement.
• Not keeping emails. If the invoice came by email, save the email too (or at least the sender + date).
• Foreign invoices. EU invoices fall under NL retention requirements as soon as you process them here.

Smart archiving — how we do it at our place

In Invoisio, all invoices are automatically kept for 7 years, structured by year/month. You can export them with one click as a ZIP file, or search for a specific invoice directly by number/customer/amount. Even supplier invoices you've uploaded via AI import are included — everything together, nothing lost.

Compare that to a shoebox full of receipts in the attic...