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These are general retention periods for common situations, not adapted legal or accounting advice for your case. Specific sectors, professional obligations, or ongoing disputes can require longer retention. Check with an accountant or legal professional for your exact case.
| Document | France | Belgium | Switzerland |
|---|
Why "how long should I keep this" rarely has one universal answer
Retention periods come from several different sources at once: commercial law sets how long a business must keep accounting records, tax law sets how long an authority can audit a past return, and general civil law sets how long a claim between two parties can still be brought to court. A single document, like an invoice, can be governed by more than one of these clocks at the same time, so the safe retention period is usually the longest of the rules that could apply.
Common retention periods, a few examples
| Document | France | Switzerland |
|---|---|---|
| Invoices | 10 years | 10 years |
| Payslips | 5 years (employer copy) | 10 years (recommended) |
| Tax returns | 6 years | varies by canton, commonly 10 years |
Where this tool falls short
These figures cover the common case for an individual or small business and are not a substitute for professional advice: regulated professions, ongoing litigation, inheritance matters, or a tax audit already underway can all extend how long a document must be kept well beyond the general rule shown here. Some rows are marked as varying by region or canton because no single national figure exists.
A simple rule when in doubt
When a document could fall under more than one retention rule, keep it for the longest period that applies rather than the shortest, and never destroy the original of a property deed, a company's incorporation documents, or anything establishing an ongoing right, all of which are worth keeping without a time limit.