How long must a freelancer keep invoices and accounting records in Europe?

Commonly between four and ten years, set separately by tax law and commercial law, with the longer period governing where they differ. Germany requires eight years for accounting vouchers and ten for annual accounts, the Netherlands seven and ten for records relating to immovable property, France six for VAT and ten commercially, Italy ten, Bulgaria ten for accounting records and fifty for payrolls, and Spain four under tax law and six under the Commercial Code. The clock usually starts at the end of the year of issue rather than on the invoice date.

Billingz Guides · Records

How long to keep invoices and records, and in what form

Short answer

Between four and ten years across Europe, and two different laws usually set two different periods for the same document. Where they disagree, the longer one is the answer. The clock rarely starts on the invoice date, and in the countries that have moved to e-invoicing, the PDF in your folder may no longer be the record at all.

Two laws, one document, two answers

The reason nobody can give you a single number is that the question is asked twice. Tax law wants the records that support what you declared, for as long as it can still reassess you. Commercial law wants the records of the business itself, usually for longer, and for entirely different reasons.

The same invoice can therefore be four years old and expired for one purpose while still being required for another. Since nobody sorts their archive by which authority might want it, the practical answer is to keep everything for the longest period that applies to you and stop thinking about it.

Where the periods actually sit

Germany - eight years for accounting vouchers, which includes invoices, since the start of 2025. Ten years for the heavier records such as trading books and annual accounts.
Netherlands - seven years under general tax law, extended to ten for records relating to immovable property.
France - six years for VAT records under tax rules, ten years for commercial documents under the Commercial Code. The prudent habit is to apply ten to everything.
Italy - ten years.
Bulgaria - ten years for accounting records and financial statements, including copies of issued and received invoices. Payrolls are a separate category at fifty years.
Spain - four years under general tax law, six years for business records under the Commercial Code, with longer periods in specific cases.

Six countries, six different answers, and none of them is the number you half-remember from somewhere else. Assume nothing travels across a border, including your own habits after you move.

The clock starts later than you think

Almost nowhere does the period run from the date on the invoice. Most systems count from the end of the year in which the document was created, and several from the first of January of the year following the reporting period it belongs to.

Bulgaria states it plainly: ten years from 1 January of the reporting period following the one the record concerns. An invoice issued in March is therefore held for closer to eleven years than ten, and a folder cleared out on a strict ten-year reading is cleared out early.

One further extension worth knowing: where a matter is open, an audit, an assessment under appeal, a dispute, the clock does not run out underneath it. Records connected to something unresolved stay until it is resolved, whatever the general rule says.

What actually has to be kept

Invoices issued and received - both directions. The ones you received are what support every cost you deducted.
Credit notes and pro formas - the credit note is a tax document in its own right and belongs with the invoice it corrects.
Bank statements - the record of what actually arrived, which is a different set of facts from what you invoiced.
Contracts and orders - what was agreed, which is what an invoice is evidence of rather than a substitute for.
Tax filings and their workings - the return is not enough on its own; what supported the numbers has to survive with it.
Payroll, if you employ anyone - its own category, its own rule, and by far the longest period.
Proof of intra-EU supply - where you invoiced without VAT under the reverse charge, the evidence that the other party was a business in another member state.

In what form, and the part that has changed

Digital storage is accepted across the EU, and the conditions are consistent in spirit even where they differ in detail: the record must stay complete, legible and unaltered, and you must be able to produce it promptly when asked. You may change the medium. You may not change the content, and you may not lose the ability to find it.

What has genuinely changed is what counts as the original. In the markets that have moved to clearance e-invoicing, the legal invoice is the structured document that passed through the government system, and the PDF you filed is a readable copy of it. Keeping only the copy can mean keeping nothing that counts.

Which countries those are, and from when, is mapped in e-invoicing in Europe. If you invoice into any of them, check what the national platform retains and for how long, because its period and your obligation are set by different rules and are not required to match.

The habit that costs nothing

Retention is not a task. It is a consequence of how you filed things at the time, and the whole burden lands in the year somebody asks for a document from six years ago.

So: one place, structured by year, everything in it, nothing deleted on a hunch. It costs nothing while you are doing it and it is the difference between an afternoon and a fortnight when the request arrives. The same discipline that makes a deduction defensible makes an archive survivable, and it is the same act performed once.

Common questions

How long do I have to keep my invoices?

Between four and ten years in most of Europe, and the figure depends on which law is asking. Tax law and commercial law often set different periods on the same document, and where they disagree the longer one is the safe answer. Spain is four years for tax and six under the Commercial Code, France is six for VAT and ten commercially, Germany is eight for accounting vouchers, and Italy, Bulgaria and the Netherlands run to ten in various circumstances.

When does the retention clock actually start?

Rarely on the invoice date. Most systems start counting from the end of the year in which the document was issued, and several from the first of January of the year following the reporting period, which is how a ten-year rule quietly becomes closer to eleven. Bulgaria states it explicitly: ten years from 1 January of the reporting period following the one the record belongs to.

Can I throw away paper if I have scanned it?

In most of Europe yes, provided the scan is complete, legible, unaltered and available for the whole retention period, and some countries add formal requirements about the process. Where a document carries an original signature or a stamp that has legal effect, keep the paper. The safe rule is that you may change the medium but you may not change the content or lose the ability to produce it.

Where can I store them, and does the cloud count?

Cloud storage is generally accepted, and the questions that matter are whether you can produce the records promptly on request, whether they remain readable and unchanged, and in some countries where the servers physically are. EU rules broadly permit storage in another member state; storage outside the EU is where national conditions start to appear. Check that before choosing a provider rather than after.

What about payroll records?

Far longer than everything else, because they support pension entitlements rather than tax assessments. Bulgaria requires payrolls to be kept for fifty years, and other countries set periods measured in decades. If you ever employ anyone, treat payroll as a separate category with its own rule and do not fold it into your general retention habit.

My country uses e-invoicing. Is the PDF still my record?

Often not. In clearance countries the legal invoice is the structured document that passed through the government system, and the PDF you kept is a readable copy of it. Keeping only the copy can mean you have kept nothing that counts. Where a national platform stores the original, check how long it does so and whether that period matches your own obligation, because the two are set by different rules.

Built for this

Billingz keeps what you issued and what you received in one place, by year, with the payment attached to the document it settled. It is not an archiving service and does not decide your retention period, but it means the records exist in a form somebody can be handed.

See how Billingz works

This guide is general information, not legal or tax advice. Retention periods are set by national law, differ between tax and commercial rules within the same country, carry exceptions for property, payroll, customs and open disputes, and change over time. The periods above were checked at the time of writing for the countries named and are not a complete list. Billingz is not an archiving provider and does not warrant that these periods apply to you. Confirm your own with a local accountant before deleting anything.