A common question is how to handle digital receipts and paper receipts respectively.
- It depends on the original format. If you or an employee received a paper receipt for a transaction, the paper receipt must be saved by the company for the mandatory archiving period of seven years. All accounting information must be saved for seven years after the end of the calendar year in which the accounting year ended.
If it is a receipt in electronic form, the company must save it in electronic form for seven years.
A few more important rules:
If you received a receipt in both paper form and electronic form (in close proximity to each other), the company can choose in which form it should be saved. This means that if the company has chosen to save receipts in electronic form, the paper receipt does not need to be saved.
In the case of receipts that were first in paper form and then photographed or scanned, the original paper receipt must also be saved for three years. The paper receipt may only be destroyed from the fourth year after the end of the calendar year in which the financial year ended.
If you intend to terminate your digital accounting service before the time for how long your accounting information must be saved has been reached, you first need to download all accounting information and ensure that it is archived yourself.
How do you book without a receipt?
If a receipt is lost, you can ask the issuer for a new receipt. If this is not possible, you can make a verification yourself, also called an accounting order. The verification must contain the same information as a regular receipt.
Do you have to print digital receipts?
A digital receipt is a fully approved verification which you do not need to print on paper. However, according to the Accounting Act, digital receipts must be saved for seven years.
Keep in mind, however, that in the end it is the natural or legal person in which the company stands that bears the main responsibility for the archiving.