§147 AO
The German tax-records retention rule requiring documents that support tax-relevant claims to be kept for 10 years, including BZSt qualified confirmation evidence under §18e UStG.
What it is
§147 of the Abgabenordnung (AO, Germany's General Tax Code) sets out the retention periods for tax-relevant records. The general rule for accounting books, invoices, and records that underpin tax claims is 10 years. A shorter 6-year period applies to "other tax-relevant documents" that do not directly support a specific tax-reducing claim.
Where you meet it
§147 AO is the basis for the 10-year retention requirement that applies to BZSt qualified confirmation records obtained under §18e UStG. When a German seller applies the zero-rate on an intra-EU supply and holds a §18e qualified confirmation as evidence, that confirmation document is a record that "directly supports a tax-relevant claim" (the zero-rate). The 10-year clock starts at the end of the calendar year in which the last entry was made in relation to that transaction.
Digital retention
§147 AO explicitly permits digital storage. The requirements are that the records remain legible, can be made available to the tax authority on request, and their integrity is assured (no alteration after archiving). A PDF export of the BZSt confirmation is acceptable, as is machine-readable JSON stored in a compliant archive. The key requirement is that you can reproduce the confirmation in human-readable form during a tax audit.
How vatverify handles retention
vatverify retains BZSt qualified confirmation responses, including the per-field match codes and the raw BZSt status codes, for 10 years from the date of the confirmation. This is the default for all plans that include the /v1/confirm endpoint. The retention is designed to meet the §147 AO standard so you do not need to manage a separate archive for compliance evidence.