How long to keep your quotes and invoices

The rule fits in one sentence: ten years. But the detail matters, and that is where the nasty surprises live.

Ten years, starting when

Books and accounting records must be kept for ten years, and the clock runs from the END OF THE FINANCIAL YEAR, not from the document's date. An invoice from January 2026 is therefore kept until the end of 2036, not until January.

What it covers

Anything that supports an entry: invoices issued and received, receipts, bank statements, contracts. Not every quote belongs in the accounts, but an accepted quote is a contract, keep it as long as the invoice that follows from it.

Digital is enough

Electronic retention is allowed on the same footing as paper. Two conditions: the link with the transaction has to stay guaranteed, and the document has to stay readable for the whole period. In other words, a folder of well-named PDFs does the job, a single hard drive in a drawer does not.

What to actually check

That your documents are exportable. Software that keeps your invoices but will not hand them back makes you a tenant of your own accounts. Export once a year and keep the copy somewhere other than with the supplier.