Company documents 2026 — archiving and retention periods

Keeping company documents in order comes down to three things: one agreed place for every document to go, deadlines for passing papers to the accounting team, and an archive run in line with the statutory retention periods. Tax books together with supporting evidence must be kept at least 5 years from the end of the year in which the tax payment deadline fell, and personnel documentation usually 10 years from the end of the year in which the contract ended. In 2026 new electronic duties are added: KSeF and the duty to keep records in a computer program for some entrepreneurs.

What documents a company must have and where to keep them

A typical small company produces four groups of documents, each with its own rules:

• accounting and tax documents – invoices, receipts, bank statements, the KPiR (tax book of revenue and expenditure) or revenue records, returns, VAT ledgers, the register of fixed assets,
• HR and payroll documentation – personnel files, working-time records, payroll lists, ZUS (Social Insurance Institution) documents,
• corporate documents – articles of association, resolutions, minutes, financial statements (in companies),
• commercial contracts and correspondence – contracts with customers and suppliers, orders, complaints, powers of attorney.

The place where the accounting documentation is kept is part of the company's registration data. On entry in CEIDG (Central Register and Information on Economic Activity) – and for companies, in the notification to the tax office – you give the address at which the documents are kept; this may be the registered seat, another place of business or an accounting office or its branch. If the documents physically move, e.g. after a change of accounting office, the data must be updated.

Retention periods – summary

Example: income tax for 2025 must be paid by 30 April 2026. The five-year period runs from the end of 2026, so the book for 2025 together with invoices must be kept at least until the end of 2031. This period may be extended if the limitation period has been suspended or interrupted – e.g. in connection with an audit or tax proceedings.

Commercial contracts are worth keeping at least until the claims arising from them become time-barred, and contracts affecting tax settlements (e.g. a lease, a sale of a fixed asset) – also for the whole retention period of the tax documentation.

Electronic documents – what is allowed and what is required

Invoices and other evidence may be kept solely in electronic form, provided that authenticity of origin, integrity of content and legibility of the document are ensured throughout the retention period, together with quick access on the tax office's request. Scanned documents are best saved in an unchangeable format (e.g. PDF), in folders split by settlement period, with a backup copy outside the main computer.

From 2026, electronic form is no longer a choice for some companies:

• entrepreneurs filing JPK_V7M monthly keep their KPiR in a computer program,
• individuals on ryczałt (lump-sum tax on recorded revenue) who file JPK_V7M keep electronic revenue records and, after the year ends, send them to the tax office by 30 April; the remaining ryczałt taxpayers have this duty from 1 January 2027,
• invoices issued in KSeF are kept in the system, but the company should still have organised access to purchase invoices, payment confirmations and documents that do not go to KSeF (e.g. receipts, foreign invoices).

Personnel documentation can also be kept electronically. It must, however, be stored in a way that preserves confidentiality, integrity and completeness – and lapses here may end in a fine imposed on a request from the labour inspector (from PLN 1,000 to PLN 30,000).

Document flow step by step

1. One point of entry. All purchase invoices go to one e-mail address or one folder; paper ones are scanned on the day they are received.
2. Description at source. The person who made the purchase notes the purpose of the expense (project, vehicle, training). A missing description is the most frequent reason for questions from the accountant and for the cost being challenged.
3. Fixed submission deadline. The full set of documents for a month reaches accounting by an agreed day (e.g. the 5th of the following month), to be in time for advance payments, ZUS and JPK_VAT.
4. Reconciliation with the bank. Each month the bank statement is compared with the list of invoices – missing documents come to light immediately, not at year-end closing.
5. Year-end closing and archiving. After the annual return is filed, the documents for that year go to the archive marked with the date until which they must be kept.
6. Culling. After the retention periods expire, documents are destroyed in a way that makes them unreadable – especially those containing personal data.

Personal data and access to documents

Personnel files, contracts with natural persons and correspondence with customers contain personal data, so the archive must meet the requirements of RODO (GDPR): access only for authorised persons, a register of authorisations, secure cabinets or accounts, control over sharing files externally. We write more about these duties in the article on RODO in a company. When changing accounting office, you also need to arrange a formal handover of the documentation and books – we describe this in the guide on changing accountant.

How Good Balance can help

We help design a document flow matched to the scale of the business: we agree what, when and in what form reaches accounting, how to prepare for the mandatory electronic records and KSeF and how to run an archive compliant with the regulations. Such work falls within accounting advisory, and the records themselves and the storage of documentation can be taken over under simplified accounting.