Retention duty in Switzerland: retention periods for business records

The basic rule: ten years

The Code of Obligations (OR) requires companies that are obliged to keep accounts to retain their accounting records, accounting vouchers, annual report and audit report for ten years (Art. 958f para. 1 OR).

The law defines an accounting voucher in general terms: accounting vouchers are “all written records on paper or in electronic or comparable form that are needed to trace the business transaction or the facts on which an entry is based” (Art. 957a para. 3 OR). The law contains no list of voucher types. What matters is whether you need a record to explain an entry. That is the case for an invoice or a receipt on which an entry is based; if in doubt, your trustee can help.

When does the period start?

The period starts at the end of the business year (Art. 958f para. 1 OR). So what counts is neither the document date nor the day you add the document.

• Business year same as calendar year: an invoice dated 14 March 2025 belongs to business year 2025. The period starts on 31 December 2025 and ends on 31 December 2035.
• Business year ending 30 June: the same invoice belongs to the business year that ends on 30 June 2025. It must be kept until 30 June 2035.

If you simply count “ten years from the document date”, in the worst case you delete several months too early. If in doubt: better a year too long than a day too short.

The periods at a glance

Some areas have rules of their own, for example customs law or regulated industries. If you are unsure which period applies to a record, ask your trustee.

Real estate: 20 or 26 years?

Under the VAT Act, business records needed for VAT in connection with immovable property must be kept for 20 years (Art. 70 para. 3 VAT Act). In its VAT Info 16, the FTA gives a retention period of 26 years. If you buy, build or extensively renovate property, you are on the safe side with 26 years.

In what form?

Accounting records and accounting vouchers may be kept on paper, electronically or in a comparable way, provided that they are guaranteed to match the underlying business transactions and facts and can be made readable again at any time (Art. 958f para. 3 OR). How this works electronically is set out in the Accounts Ordinance (GeBüV).

There is one exception for the annual report and the audit report: they must be kept in writing and signed (Art. 958f para. 2 OR). A digital copy in the archive is practical, but it does not replace the signed original.

And after the period has ended?

Neither the OR nor the GeBüV requires records to be destroyed on the day the period ends. The Data Protection Act, however, requires personal data to be destroyed or anonymised as soon as it is no longer needed for the purpose it was processed for (Art. 6 para. 4 DSG). So once the period has ended, you should make a conscious decision: delete, or keep the records for longer with a reason, for example because of pending litigation or tax proceedings.

How Magic Heidi Archiv calculates it

When you set up the archive, you enter when your business year ends. When you add documents, you choose the business year and the period: 10, 20 or 26 years. From this, Magic Heidi Archiv calculates the end of the retention period and shows it for every document. Until that day the document is locked in storage, and nobody can delete or overwrite it. After that you can delete it; there is no automatic deletion, and the deletion itself is recorded in the journal.

Because the lock cannot be lifted, it is worth checking the chosen business year before you add a whole ZIP. More on how to go about it in the guide Keeping receipts digitally.