German Finance Minister Plans 15-Year Data Retention!
By Emanuel Böminghaus, Legacy Systems Expert and Managing Director, AvenDATA
By Emanuel Böminghaus
Legacy Systems Expert and
Managing Director, AvenDATA
Managing Director, AvenDATA
As part of an action plan against tax fraud, the German federal government plans a significant extension of tax-related retention requirements. Under Federal Finance Minister Lars Klingbeil’s current proposals, accounting records would have to be retained for 15 years going forward. The goal is to give German tax authorities longer audit periods and to strengthen the fight against tax evasion and financial crime. The legislative process is not yet complete, but companies — especially international corporations with business operations in Germany — should already factor the potential impact into their planning today.
Archiving Strategies Should Be Reviewed
If the proposed regulation takes effect, tax-relevant data would have to be kept in an audit-proof form for considerably longer. Companies should therefore examine whether their existing archiving and deletion policies can accommodate longer retention periods. This is especially important for data from financial accounting, procurement, sales, and human resources, where it must be ensured that the data remains complete, tamper-proof, and available at all times throughout the entire statutory period.
System Migration Does Not End Retention Obligations
Many companies have already modernized their ERP or business applications, or are currently planning to migrate to new platforms such as SAP S/4HANA, Oracle Cloud, or Microsoft Dynamics 365. However, retiring a legacy system does not bring an end to statutory retention obligations. Historical data must remain available even after migration — for tax audits, external auditors, or internal research. An extension of the retention periods would lengthen this timeframe accordingly and make the long-term availability of data from legacy systems even more important.
Assess the Impact on Legacy Systems Now
Regardless of when the proposed changes are adopted in Germany, now is the right time to review your own archiving strategy. Companies should ensure that data subject to retention requirements is archived in an audit-proof manner and can be provided at any time, even after a legacy system has been decommissioned. This makes it possible to meet future legal requirements without having to keep outdated applications running solely because of retention obligations.
Would you like to know how the proposed changes might affect your existing system landscape? Our experts will help you review your archiving strategy and show you how legacy systems can be decommissioned in a legally compliant way, while tax-relevant data remains available over the long term.
Contact us for a no-obligation consultation.