Record-Keeping Rules for Austrian Businesses: The BAO Explained
Austria's Bundesabgabenordnung sets out how long you must keep records and what counts as a valid document. Here's what it means in practice.
German businesses follow GoBD for their digital record-keeping obligations. Austrian businesses follow the Bundesabgabenordnung (BAO), Austria’s Federal Tax Code. While the underlying goals are similar, the BAO has its own specific requirements that Austrian freelancers and small businesses need to follow.
The Seven-Year Retention Rule
Under the BAO, most business records must be retained for seven years. This covers invoices you issued, invoices you received, bank statements, contracts, correspondence with tax relevance, and accounting records.
The seven-year period begins at the end of the calendar year in which the record was created. So an invoice from March 2025 must be kept until December 31st, 2032.
Certain records have longer retention obligations. Real estate-related documents must be kept for 22 years. Documents relating to ongoing legal disputes must be kept until the dispute is fully resolved.
What Counts as a Valid Record
The BAO requires that records be genuine, complete, and legible. For digital records, the key requirements are: the document must be stored in its original format, it must be readable throughout the entire retention period, and it must be protected against subsequent modification.
Scanning paper documents and storing them digitally is explicitly permitted, provided the digital copy is a faithful reproduction and the file is stored in a tamper-proof environment. A folder on your desktop where you can freely edit files does not meet this standard.
Digital Records and the BAO
The BAO does not have a document as specific as Germany’s GoBD, but the Finanzamt’s administrative practice has developed clear expectations for digital bookkeeping. Your system must be able to provide records in a machine-readable format for audit purposes, typically via a data export. This is Austria’s equivalent of the German GDPdU/GoBD export requirement.
When auditors conduct a Betriebsprüfung (tax audit), they may request a structured export of your accounting data. Having records in a system that can produce such an export is effectively mandatory for any business beyond the smallest scale.
Receipts and Supporting Documents
Every expense deduction must be supported by a valid Beleg (receipt or invoice). The Beleg must show: the name and address of the supplier, the date, a description of the goods or services, the amount, and the applicable VAT rate and amount.
For cash purchases under 400 EUR gross, a simplified receipt is sufficient. Above 400 EUR, a full invoice is required.
How KontoMatch Helps
KontoMatch stores every uploaded document in its original format with a timestamped upload log, and documents cannot be modified after upload. Records are retained for up to 10 years, exceeding the BAO’s seven-year requirement. When a Betriebsprüfung requires a structured data export, your complete records are available in organized, exportable form.