How long does it take to keep business records?
2 March, 2020 by
How long does it take to keep business records?
HERMES D.O.O., Jasmina Macur
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Are you still wondering how long a particular document is stored? This is determined by various regulations (ZGD, SRS, ZDavP, ZDDV, ZVDAGA).

The company must specify the retention periods of the documentation in an internal act, since SAS (Slovenian Accounting Standards) no longer specify retention periods for books of account / bookkeeping documents (except those that we must keep permanently). Since different laws require different time intervals, it is advisable to take into account the law defining the maximum retention period for individual documents when determining an internal act.


Who should store the documentation?

Keeping and archiving business documents is mandatory for all taxpayers. A taxpayer, as defined by the Value Added Tax Act, is any person who acts independently and independently and carries out any economic activity anywhere, whether or not he makes a profit. So taxpayers are all those who are identified for VAT purposes and even those who are not - this law is also called small taxpayers.

Every taxpayer is obliged to keep business and accounting documents that arise in the course of business.

According to the tax procedure law, documents, business books and records must be kept in physical or electronic form until the absolute limitation period of the right to recover the tax to which they relate expires. The minimum statutory period for retaining documents is 10 years from the date on which the right to recover the tax came into existence, or from the day on which the tax had to be announced, charged, deducted or levied.


The right of the taxpayer to recover the tax which he was not obliged to pay shall become obsolete within five years, from the day on which he paid it or from the acquisition of a legal title which established that he was not obliged to pay.

The general ledger, balance sheets, profit and loss accounts and annual reports should be kept on a permanent basis.
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The taxpayer must ensure that copies of the invoices he has issued and all invoices he has received are retained. It must also keep invoices relating to the supply of goods or services for ten years after the end of the year to which the invoices relate. Accounts relating to real estate must be kept for at least twenty years after the end of the year to which they relate.

Since invoices for VAT purposes must be retained for ten years after the end of the year to which they relate and for the purposes of calculating corporate tax for ten years from the date on which the tax liability is due, the same invoices should therefore be retained for ten years, and four months after the end of the year to which both records retention purposes are fulfilled.

If the taxpayer pays the tax after the paid realization, he must also keep proof of the payments made, for at least ten years after the end of the year to which they relate.


To sum it up ...

What to keep for 10 years?

  • all documentation for bookkeeping of business events: invoices issued, invoices received, contracts for the purchase and sale of short-term financial investments and leasing of short-term loans, transaction accounts, accounts.

  What to keep for up to 20 years?

  • contracts and bills for the purchase and sale of real estate
  • register of fixed assets

 What is stored permanently?

  • lannual reports (balance sheets prepared by accounting for Durs and Ajpes),
  • payroll and everything related to payroll,
  • a book of conclusions,
  • general ledger and diary.

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