The 7-year retention period for business documents from 2012 ends on December 31, 2019. Documents that are important for pending tax or other official / judicial proceedings must also be kept.

Documents for properties with input tax back offsetting must be kept for 12 years. If the land is not exclusively used for business purposes and if an input tax deduction has been used for the non-business part, the retention obligation is extended to 22 years under certain conditions. The retention obligation for documents in connection with real estate is also 22 years if the rental for residential purposes or business use of the real estate began on April 1st, 2012.

Under no circumstances should documents be destroyed that serve as evidence, for example in the case of product liability, property law, law of continuity and employment contract law.