Attention self-employed people: New retention periods for account statements!

Attention self-employed people: New retention periods for account statements!

Self-employed and commercial entrepreneurs are facing an important change in deadlines with regard to the retention requirements for account statements and accounting documents. From January 1, 2025, the legal retention period for these documents will be shortened from ten to eight years. This is a crucial innovation that was passed as part of the “Fourth Law to Relieve the Burden of Citizens, the Economy and the Administration of Bureaucracy”, which the Federal Council approved on October 18, 2024. How Focus reported, this regulation affects all self-employed people who are obliged to keep accounts.

The previous deadline of ten years applied to a large number of documents, including bank statements, which represent essential evidence for payment transactions. With the new regulation, companies must adapt their retention periods depending on the type of document and the applicable legal requirements. Violating the retention requirement can have serious consequences, including fines of up to 50,000 euros and imprisonment. In the case of digital receipts, there is even a risk of delay fines if access to the data is not granted properly.

Reforms of retention requirements

The new regulation applies to receipts whose retention period has not yet expired on January 1, 2025. The relief comes from a reduction of the retention requirement in the Commercial Code (HGB) by two years. This includes, among other things, documents such as invoices, delivery notes and payment receipts that are important for providing evidence in a tax context. Loud Haufe From January 1, 2025, the following documents, among others, must only be retained for eight years:

• Empfangene Aufträge und deren Ergänzungen
• Auftragsbestätigungen
• Versandanzeigen
• Lieferscheine
• Frachtbriefe
• Rechnungen
• Reklamationen und Folgeschriftverkehr
• Lieferantengutschriften
• Zahlungsbelege (Schecks, Überweisungen, Kontenabschlüsse, Kontenauszüge)
• Barzahlungsquittungen
• Schriftliche Verträge in Verbindung mit Handelsbriefen

In addition, the new legal regulation requires organizational measures to ensure quick access to booking documents. In special cases, the internal accounting documents have to be created yourself, which underlines how important proper documentation is for business activities.

With these changes, the federal government has taken a step towards reducing bureaucracy. Nevertheless, the responsibility for proper storage and documentation remains with the individual entrepreneur, who must also set and monitor the new deadlines.