Keeping e-invoices: what, how long, in which form
Choose the year and type of record: the calculator gives the end of the retention period and tells you which file you must keep.
Keep until
31 December 2033
8 years from the end of 2025; delete no earlier than 1 January 2034.
| What to keep | The XML file in its original format |
| PDF part of a ZUGFeRD invoice | Only if it adds tax-relevant information |
| Converting, e.g. to TIFF | The XML must not be lost |
| Keep machine-readable | Yes, for tax audits |
Basis: section 14b(1) UStG, section 147(3) AO, GoBD as amended by the Finance Ministry letter of 14 July 2025 (paras 119, 125, 131). The period does not end while the records are needed for an open tax assessment (section 147(3) sentence 5 AO).
Prepared by Radif Partners · Method · VAT Act, ministry letters and XRechnung 3.0.2 checked on 25 October 2026
Under section 14b of the VAT Act (UStG) and section 147(3) of the Fiscal Code (AO) you must keep invoices for 8 years; this applies to invoices you issue and receive and, since the Fourth Bureaucracy Relief Act, to other accounting vouchers as well. The period starts at the end of the calendar year in which the invoice was issued. An invoice from May 2025 may therefore be destroyed only after 31 December 2033, unless the expiry is suspended, for example because a tax audit is running or the assessment period for a tax is still open. With an e-invoice the structured file is the original: you must keep the XML of an XRechnung, or the XML embedded in a ZUGFeRD PDF, in the format received. Under the GoBD as amended in July 2025, you need the visual part of a ZUGFeRD invoice in addition only if it contains tax-relevant details not found in the XML. Storage must rule out changes or make them traceable, and the file must stay readable and machine-processable for the whole period. A printout is not enough.
The period: 8 years from the end of the year
Section 14b(1) UStG obliges every business to keep a copy of the invoices it issues and all invoices it receives for 8 years. Section 147(3) AO sets the same period for accounting vouchers. Under section 147(4) AO the period runs from the end of the calendar year in which the invoice was issued or the entry made. The payment date does not matter.
| Record | Period | Legal basis |
|---|---|---|
| Invoices, issued and received | 8 years | Section 14b UStG, section 147(3) AO |
| Accounting vouchers | 8 years | Section 147(3) AO |
| Books, inventories, annual accounts | 10 years | Section 147(3) AO |
| Business letters | 6 years | Section 147(3) AO |
An example: an invoice dated 12 May 2025 must be available until 31 December 2033; you may destroy it on 1 January 2034 at the earliest. The period does not end, however, while the record matters for a tax whose assessment period is still running. This suspension is set out in section 147(3) sentence 5 AO and applies, for example, during a tax audit or an objection.
Keep until
Keep until
31 December 2033
| What to keep | The XML file in its original format |
| PDF part of a ZUGFeRD invoice | Only if it adds tax-relevant information |
| Converting, e.g. to TIFF | The XML must not be lost |
| Keep machine-readable | Yes, for tax audits |
Which file is the original
With a paper invoice the sheet is the record, with an e-invoice the file. The Finance Ministry letter of 14 July 2025 (reference IV D 2 - S 0316/00128/005/088) adapted the GoBD, the German rules on proper electronic bookkeeping, for this. Under margin number 119 the structured part of an e-invoice must be kept, meaning the XML. For hybrid formats such as ZUGFeRD, margin number 125 requires the visual part only if it holds details that matter for taxation and are missing from the XML, such as handwritten notes that later serve as evidence. Margin number 131 deals with conversion into an in-house format: if you convert the incoming file for your software, you must keep the original as well.
In practice the simplest solution is also the safest. File the document exactly as it arrived, and add posting notes in your accounting system, not in the file. An XRechnung keeps its content when you open or print it in the viewer; nothing is saved in the process.
Store it unchanged and readable
The GoBD require that a record cannot be changed unnoticed. You can achieve that in several ways: with document management or accounting software that logs changes, with storage that locks files against overwriting, or with a written procedure under which files are filed once and only read afterwards. A folder on your computer with no rules and no backup is usually not enough.
Readability over 8 years matters just as much. Store the XML so that it can be opened after a change of software too, and note which program you use to display the files. A viewer that runs in the browser, like the one on this site, is a robust fallback. Describe the whole setup in short procedure documentation: where invoices arrive, who files them, how backups are made.
Treat incoming and outgoing invoices alike
The duty applies in both directions. For your own invoices, keep the file you actually sent, not just the data in your program. How to organise incoming invoices well is on receiving e-invoices; what a ZUGFeRD file contains technically is on ZUGFeRD.