Better not to do it. Self-employed
cuba email list workers are obliged to keep their documents for two important reasons:
1. The Commercial Code establishes that you must keep the books, correspondence, documentation and vouchers concerning your business, duly organized, for six years .
2. Tax regulations require the issuance and delivery of invoices or substitute documents . Also, the retention of invoices, documents and receipts related to tax obligations.
In addition, to know until what day you have to keep them , you must refer to the regulations of each tax. There you will see when the limitation period begins and how long it lasts. Let's see what the most important tax laws say about this.
Save invoices in VAT
In principle, VAT regulations require that invoices be kept until the expiration of the tax , which is four years. This obligation affects invoices received, accounting receipts and copies of those issued.
Previously, the deadline was considered to begin when Form 390 (the annual summary declaration) was submitted . This took us until January of the year following the performance of the operations.
In 2016 , the Central Economic Administrative Court's criteria changed . In 2020, the Supreme Court's case law dispelled doubts about when the term begins to count.
This change is based on the fact that Form 390 is not of a liquidation nature and, for years, Form 303s have not had to be accompanied by it . Therefore, its presentation does not interrupt the prescription. In short, the four-year period of prescription of VAT (and preservation of invoices) begins from the presentation of Form 303.
In addition, there are some special rules:
If invoices document deductible VAT subject to a regularization period , they must be kept for the corresponding regularization period and the following four years.
In the special investment gold regime , the retention period for invoices is five years.
Unpaid invoices and the VAT statute of limitations
Recently, there has been a question about whether the EU VAT directive influences the starting point for calculating the limitation period . The question is that VAT may be subject to a refund of amounts due to a reduction in the tax base. In particular, it is interesting to know until what period of time this can be claimed in the event of an invoice being unpaid .
In this regard, there is a case currently before the Court of Justice of the European Union (Case C‑314/22). We will have to wait to see what the Court decides. For the moment, in September 2023, the Advocate General has set out her position . Since national regulations do not establish a date for the start of the period, it can only begin when there is a probability bordering on certainty that the debt will be uncollectible .
If this position is established, it could have consequences in Spain. The moment when it is almost certain that the credit will be uncollectible would be the start of the four-year calculation . Therefore, you should keep the invoices for all that time, until the right to request the modification of the tax base has expired.
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Saving invoices in the IRPF
In the Personal Income Tax, you must keep the supporting documents and receipts of the operations, income, expenses, revenues, reductions and deductions. This documentation includes invoices. The retention period is four years. As the declaration is submitted the following year, in many cases this will take us more than five years.
Since the Income Tax return is filed the year after the operations, the Personal Income Tax usually requires that we keep the invoices for at least five years.
These documents are also essential for calculating the profits from economic activities by direct estimation . In the case of objective estimation , it is required to keep the invoices issued and the documentary evidence of other types received numbered in date order and grouped by quarter.
