How many years must invoices and accounting books be kept?

At least six years after the end of the tax period to which they relate — a period that matches the window within which TAK may raise a tax assessment under Law no. 08/L-257. In practice, documents for 2026 are kept until the end of 2032. Electronic retention is accepted if the file is complete and accessible.

Is a phone photograph enough, or is a scan required?

A photograph is enough if the date, fiscal number, invoice number, amount and VAT are clearly legible. Take it straight from above, in good light, with the whole page inside the frame. For contracts and multi-page customs files a scan is better, while PDFs from your invoicing system are the ideal format.

By what date should I send the month's documents?

As early as possible, because salaries and contributions are declared by the 15th and VAT by the 20th for the previous month. The practice that works is uploading documents during the month, as soon as they reach you, and closing the month in the first days of the following month with the bank statement and the payroll data.

What happens if a purchase invoice reaches me several months late?

Send it immediately and say which month it belongs to. Its VAT can still be deducted later, but no later than the last tax period of the year following the year of the invoice — an invoice from 2026 can be taken at the latest in the December 2027 return. After that deadline the right to deduct is lost for good.

Which documents are sent only once rather than every month?

The business registration certificate, the VAT certificate, the lease contract, the employment contracts in force, loan agreements with their amortisation schedules, the list of fixed assets with their purchase invoices, and the prior year's books if you are coming from another accountant. They are repeated only when they change.

Should I also send payments made in cash?

Yes, and it must be clear how the payment was made. Transactions above EUR 300 between persons carrying out economic activity must be made through a bank account or other electronic means of payment, so a large invoice paid in cash creates a problem even when the invoice itself is perfectly in order. Cash receipt vouchers, cash payment vouchers and advances are sent together with the month's other documents.

Documents Your Accountant Needs

Who this guide is for

This guide is for business owners and for anyone in a business who handles the paperwork. No accounting knowledge is required. You will learn which documents are sent every month, which are sent only once, in what format they are accepted, by when they must be delivered, how the folders are organised, how many years the records must be kept, and what happens when a document arrives late.

One clarification before we begin: an accountant does not invent data — they record what reaches them. If a purchase invoice never gets to them, it exists neither in the books nor in the tax return, and its VAT is not deducted.

Documents sent every month

This list does not change from one month to the next, so it is worth keeping to hand.

Document	What it includes	Why it is needed
Sales invoices	All invoices issued during the month, in serial-number order, including cancelled ones and credit notes	They determine revenue and the VAT charged
Fiscal receipts	The daily reports and the monthly report from the fiscal cash register, if you use one	They capture retail sales that carry no individual customer invoice
Purchase invoices	Supplier invoices, including small costs: fuel, telephone, electricity, rent, maintenance	They reduce the taxable base and give the right to deduct VAT
Bank statements	The full monthly statement for every account, including foreign-currency and loan accounts	They are what receipts, payments and balances are reconciled against
Payroll data	Employees, gross salaries, hours or days worked, absences, sick leave	Payroll tax and pension contributions are derived from them
New contracts	Employment or lease contracts, or contracts with clients and suppliers that have a financial effect	They determine the tax treatment; rent, for instance, is subject to withholding tax
Customs documents	The single administrative document (SAD) for every import, with the foreign supplier's invoice	The basis for deductible import VAT and for the cost of the goods
Cash documents	Cash receipt vouchers, cash payment vouchers and staff advances	Cash is where discrepancies arise most often

Documents sent only once

These are not repeated every month, but they are needed at the very start of the engagement — and again whenever they change:

The business registration certificate and the business information from KBRA
The VAT certificate, if you are registered
The authorisation for TAK's electronic system
The lease contract for the premises and the employment contracts in force
Bank loan agreements with their amortisation schedules
The list of fixed assets — vehicles, machinery, equipment — with their purchase invoices
The stock position and the prior year's books, if you are coming from another accountant

What format to send them in

The only rule is that the date, fiscal number, invoice number, amount and VAT must be clearly legible. If those can be read, the document is usable.

PDFs from your invoicing system are the best format — legible and with no loss of quality.
Scanning is the second-best option, especially for multi-page documents such as contracts or customs files.
A phone photograph is perfectly acceptable, provided it is taken straight from above, in good light, with the whole page inside the frame.

The channel for sending them is a shared folder — an online space where you upload the documents and the accountant collects them from there. That is how we organise the work with our clients, as described on our how we work page. Sending invoices one by one over chat feels quick, but a conversation does not serve as an archive.

The monthly flow, step by step

During the month, upload each document as soon as it reaches you. A fuel invoice is uploaded the same day, not at the end of the month when it can no longer be found.
In the first days of the following month, close the month just ended. Download the bank statement and the monthly cash register report, and send the payroll changes: who started, who left, who was absent.
Check the serial numbers of your sales invoices. If a number is missing, it has either been cancelled and needs evidencing, or it has not been sent.
Answer your accountant's questions the same day. They are usually simple: what was this payment, whose invoice is this, is it a business or a personal expense.
Receive the monthly summary and the amounts payable. Salaries, payroll tax and pension contributions are declared by the 15th; VAT for the previous month is declared and paid by the 20th. The full calendar is on our tax deadlines page.

A business that closes the month within the first week never feels the pressure of deadlines; one that gathers its documents on the last day turns every month into a scramble — and haste is the main source of errors.

How the folders are organised

The structure that works in practice is one folder per month, and inside it the sub-folders: sales, purchases, bank, payroll, customs, other. A finer breakdown looks tidy on paper, but nobody keeps it up for long.

File naming helps more than you would expect: the date, the counterparty's name and the amount — for example 2026-03-14 Supplier ABC 240.00. The same logic applies to the physical originals, one folder per month. You do not hand the originals to your accountant: the law requires the documentation to be kept by the entity itself, so the accountant works from the electronic copies and asks for the originals only when there is a genuine need, such as during a tax audit.

How many years invoices and books must be kept

The general rule: books, invoices and records are kept for at least six years after the end of the tax period to which they relate. The period is not arbitrary — it matches the window within which TAK may raise a tax assessment, which under Law no. 08/L-257 on tax administration and procedures is six years from the date the return became due or from the date it was filed, whichever is later. In practice, documents for 2026 are kept at least until the end of 2032.

Electronic retention is accepted, provided the file is complete and accessible — a well-maintained shared folder builds the archive by itself. Some documents are worth keeping even longer than the statutory period: contracts for immovable property, records of fixed assets depreciated over many years, and donor project files.

What happens when documents arrive late

Late is not the same as lost, but it carries a real cost:

Deductible VAT can be lost. A late invoice can still be deducted later, but no later than the last tax period of the year following the year of the invoice: an invoice from 2026 can be taken at the latest in the December 2027 return. After that the right is lost for good — more on this in our VAT questions.
A filed return may need correcting. If the document arrives after filing, the month has to be adjusted in the following period — double work and a risk of mismatch with what has already been reported.
A missed deadline brings a penalty. Late filing is penalised with a fine and interest, while the law provides for a reduction of the fine where the taxpayer corrects the error themselves before TAK notifies them of an audit.
Cash payments may not be recognised. Transactions above EUR 300 between persons carrying out economic activity must be made through a bank account or other electronic means of payment, so the method of payment must be clear from the moment of the transaction.

When a document turns up late, send it immediately and say which month it belongs to. If you are not sure whether it belongs to the business at all, send it anyway: the treatment is the accountant's call, and the only irreparable problem is the document that is never sent. The full monthly service is described on our accounting page.

Which documents your accountant needs every month