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Subcategories:
Legal Regulations :
1. Electronic Archiving1.1 Definitions
1.2 Ten Characteristics of Revision-safe Archiving
1.3 Conversion of the Demands in Electronic Archive Systems
1.4 Functional Demands of an Electronic Archive System
1.5 Storage Technologies for Electronic Archiving
1.6 Strategies for Securing the Availability of Archived Information
1.7 Laws and Regulations for Electronic Archiving
1.8 Further Advancement
2. Revision Security
2.1 Characteristics of Revision Security during Electronic Archiving
2.2 Certification of Revision Security for Electronic Archive Systems
2.3 Principles of Regular Data Processing-supported Accounting Systems
3. Rechtliches
3.1 HGB (Trade law) § 239 Keeping of Accounting Books
3.2 HGB § 257 Keeping of Documents. Periods for Safekeeping
3.3 AO 1977 § 146 Regulations for Record-keeping and for Entries
3.4 AO 1977 § 147 Regulations for the Keeping of Documents
1. Electronic Archiving
Electronic archiving refers to the unchangeable, long-term keeping of electronic information. For electronic archiving, special archive systems are usually used. The term electronic archiving summarises different components, which are separately called records management, storage, and preservation. The scientific terms for an archive and archiving are not identical in content to the terms as they are used by the document management industry.
The term electronic archiving is very differently used. While today enterprises see 10 year periods for safekeeping relevant data and documents in accordance with commercial and tax law as already very difficult to implement, in historical archives, they speak of secure, organised and readily accessible information-keeping with retention times of 100, 200 or 300 years. In view of constantly changing technologies, ever new software, formats and standards, it is a gigantic challenge for the information society.
Archiving is no end in itself. The keeping, development and supply of information are unavoidable conditions for the ability to work in modern enterprises and administrations. With exponential growth of electronic information, the problems of long-term storage grow, although modern software technologies are substantially better suited to handle information than was possible in the past with paper, binders and shelves. More and more information is created digitally and the printout on paper is only one of many possible representations of the original electronic document. Through the use of electronic signatures, electronic documents take on the same legal character as formerly manually signed documents. Such digital documents only validly exist in electronic form. Nowadays, these developments force every enterprise to confront the topic of electronic archiving.
1.1 Definitions
nach obenIn Germany, two definitions for electronic archiving have become standard:
Electronic Long-term Archiving
One speaks of long-term archiving if the information is kept at least 10 years or more and needs to be kept accessible.
The term “long-term archiving” is, in principle, redundant, a Pleonasm, since archiving already implies a long-term aspect.
Revision-safe Electronic Archiving
One speaks of revision-safe archiving if the archive system solution corresponds to the demands of the Handelsgesetzbuches (German commercial code - HGB) §§ 239, 257 as well as the tax code and the GoBS ( Principles of Regular Data Processing-supported Accounting Systems) to the safe, normal keeping of commercial documents and fulfils the periods for safekeeping of six to ten years.
The HGB and the tax code (AO) dictate the basis for storage, regardless of whether in conventional paper archives or electronic systems, as noted here:
- correctness
- completeness
- security of the total procedure
- protection from change and falsificationg
- safety from loss
- use only by entitled personnel
- adherence to the periods for safekeeping
- documentation of the procedure
- comprehensibleness
- controllability
The demands are summarised in the code of practice Grundsätze der elektronischen Archivierung (Principles of Electronic Archiving) of the VOI (Federation of Organisation and Information Systems e.V. 1996). The definition for revision-safe archiving originates from Ulrich Kampffmeyer already from the year 1992. Internationally, the functionality and the extent of electronic archives are defined in ISO standard 17421 and records management systems defined in ISO 15489. In Germany, for the intent of security and examination of archive systems, the BSI Grundschutzhandbuch, Basic Protection Manual, (Chapter 9.5) can be consulted.
1.2 Ten Characteristics of Revision-safe Archiving
The following 10 characteristics for revision-safe electronic archiving originate from VOI (Federation of Organisation and Information Systems e. V.):
1. Each document must be unchangeable when archived.
2. No document may be lost on the way into archives or in the archive itself.
3. Each document must be findable again with suitable retrieval techniques.
4. Exactly the document that was looked for must be regained.
5. No document may be able to be destroyed during its intended lifetime.
6. Each document must be able to be displayed and printed again in exactly the same form as it was captured.
7. Each document must be able to be regained in real time.
8. All actions in the archives, which cause changes in the organisation and structure, are to be logged in such a manner that the re-establishment of the original condition is possible.
9. Electronic archives are to be laid out in such a way that a migration to new platforms, media, software versions and components is possible without information loss.
10. The system must offer the capability to the user to guarantee the keeping of the legal regulations (BDSG, HGB/AO etc.) as well as the operational regulations of the user regarding data security and data protection for the life span of the archive.
1.3 Conversion of the Demands in Electronic Archive Systems
For the fulfilment of these requirements, archive systems were created consisting of databases, archiving software and memory systems which are offered in Germany by numerous manufacturers and system integrators. These systems are based mostly on the approach of a reference database with administrative and index criteria that refer to an external memory source in which the information objects are held. This so-called reference database architecture was necessary in order to distribute large quantities of information into separate archives on fast, but expensive, on-line servers. The database permits the document to be found and made available again to the user at any time through the index and with an appropriate display program.
In the early periods of this technology, they were mostly closed, independent systems, which practically led to "islands" in the IT landscape. Today, archive systems are integrated as subordinate services into the IT infrastructure, are handled directly by office communication and specialised applications, and also the make the necessary information available again to these applications for processing and display. For the user, it is therefore unimportant where the necessary information is stored; archive memory systems and the server locations of the documents are insignificant for them. The discussion about the "correct" storage medium for electronic archiving is mostly led only by IT specialists, project workers and legal departments if it relates to the selection and introduction of an electronic archive system.
1.4 Functional Demands of an Electronic Archive System
Electronic archive systems are characterised by the following independent characteristics:
- program-supported, direct access to individual information objects - also commonly called documents - or information collections such as lists or folders with several objects, etc.
- database-supported administration of the information objects based on meta data and, if necessary, full text indexing of contents of the archived information objects
- support of different indexing and search strategies in order to be able to access the required information directly
- uniform and common storage of any information objects, from scanned faxes to Word files up to complex XML structures, lists or whole database contents
- administration of memory systems with single-use recordable media including the access to media that is no longer directly in the memory system
- assurance that the stored information is available over a long period which can amount to decades
- supply of information objects — independently of the original application that was used to produce the information — to different clients and with delivery to other programs
- support of "class concepts" for the simplification of the collection through inheriting characteristics and structuring of the information base
- converters for the production of long-term stable archive formats and a viewer for the display of information objects for which the original application is no longer available
- protection of the stored information objects against unauthorised access and against alteration of the stored information
- comprehensive administration of different memory systems to ensure quick access and brisk supply of the information, e.g., by caches
- standardised interfaces in order to be able to integrate electronic archives as services into various applications
- independent re-establishment functionality (Recovery) in order to be able to losslessly rebuild inconsistent or disturbed systems from within themselves
- secure logging of all changes (which can endanger the consistency and ability to relocate and document how the information in the archives system was processed) in structures and information objects
- support of standards for the special recording of information on memory with WORM procedures to ensure the long-term availability and migration security for stored documents and for the meta data describing the information objects
- support of automated, comprehensible and lossless migration procedures
All these characteristics were intended to clarify that it is not merely a matter of hierarchical memory management or conventional data protection. Electronic archive systems are a class by themselves that, as subordinate services, belong in each IT infrastructure.
With electronic storage technologies today, one must distinguish between the administrative and control software on the one hand, and the actual storage media on the other. Conventional magnetic storage media are not considered as suitable as electronic archiving, since the stored information can be changed and overwritten at any time. This especially concerns hard drives that are administered dynamically by operating systems. Magnetic influences, "Head Crashes" and other risks resigned the role of pure on-line memory to the hard drive. With magnetic tapes, delete-ability was an added issue, apart from the fact that high strain, wear and tear, as well as magnetic overlays occur when storing for longer periods. Therefore, in the 80's special digital-optical storage media were developed which can be burned only once in their drive with a laser without contact. This storage technology is called WORM "Write Once, Read Multiple Times". The storage media were protected from changes by their physical characteristics and offered a substantially higher life span than those magnetic media known up to that time.
In this category of storage media today, the following types exist:
CD-WORM
One-time recordable Compact Disc media with approx. 650 megabyte of storage capacity. The memory surface in the medium is irreversibly changed during the writing. CD media are standardised by ISO 9660 and economical. However, the quality of some cheap media is judged as insufficient for long-term archiving. There are numerous suppliers of drives and media. The control of the drives is supported directly by the operating systems.
DVD-WORM
Similar to the CD, the memory surface of the DVD-WORM is irreversibly changed on the medium. DVDs at present are not yet uniformly standardised and offer different storage capacities of between 4 and 17 gigabyte. Therefore, when using them for archiving, the drives and media have to conform to the demands of long-term availability. There are also numerous suppliers and most drives are also directly supported by the usual operating systems.
5¼“ WORM
These media and drives are the traditional technology that was developed particularly for electronic archiving. The media are in a sleeve and are therefore better secured against environmental influences than CDs and DVDs that were developed for the consumer market. The media are inscribed with a laser and offer an extremely high resistance to tampering. The present state-of-the-art are so-called UDO media which use a blue laser and offer a storage capacity of 50 gigabytes. For the future, we can count on still clearly higher capacities for each medium. It is unfavourable that media of the preceding generations of 5 ¼ " media cannot be used in the new drives. There are still several different technologies available on the market. For the connection of 5 ¼ “ drives, a special driver is often necessary. For the administration and use of the media, so-called Jukeboxes, disc exchange machines, are common. These make the requested information software-supported available from the media. The software usually is also able to administer media which are no longer in the Jukebox and can be supplied manually on demand. The software for the control of Jukeboxes is often integrated directly into the archives and, in addition, offered as independent control software. For the connection of Jukeboxes one usually uses their own server, which also takes over the administration and the caching. In the meantime, such systems can also be used as NAS, Network Attached Storage or integrated in SAN, Storage Area Networks. The software offers respectable access and supply times, which normally guarantees a sufficient reply time.
Next to these classical archive memories, which are based on exchangeable, digital-optical change media, two further technologies have stepped up in the meantime:
CAS Content Adressed Storage
These are hard drive systems that achieve the same characteristics as a conventional WORM medium through the use of special software. An overwriting or changing of the information on the memory system is prevented by the coding during saving and special addressing. These memories are enclosed subsystems that can be integrated directly into the IT environment almost like conventional hard drive systems. They offer storage capacities with high performance within the Terabyte range.
WORM-Tapes
WORM Tapes are magnetic tapes that likewise fulfil the demands of a conventional WORM medium by several combined characteristics. That includes special volume media as well as protected tapes and special drives, which guarantee the one-time write-ability. Particularly in computing centres, in which volume robots and library systems are already present, the WORM Tapes represent a component for long-term archiving which can be simply integrated. The existing control software can deal with the media and also automate appropriate transfer and protection.
Particularly for larger enterprises and administrations with computing centres, hard drive or WORM Tape archives are an option, since they can be simply integrated into the current operation.
1.6 Strategies for Securing the Availability of Archived Information
Standardisation
A crucial condition for the long-term availability of electronic information is the observance of standards. For consideration are recording formats, meta data, media and the file formats of the information objects themselves. Long-term storage should already be considered when data is produced. Long-term stable formats should be used preferentially. Characteristics of such a format should be the wide availability, an open specification (standard) or the special development of a format for long-term data storage. Examples are XML files, TIFF and PDF archives.
Migration
One method for securing the availability is the migration of information into a new system environment. It sometimes represents a risk, if the information cannot be verifiably migrated in its entirety, without changes, and without problems be continually recalled by another system solution. Originality and authenticity can be put in question by a migration. On the other hand, technological change forces users, in time, to utilise new memory and administrative components in order to keep the information available. Therefore, migration must already be anticipated with the first installation of an archive and a memory system, in order to be able to carry out the change without risk and expenditure. Controlled, lossless, "continuous migration" is at present the most important solution to keep information available over decades and centuries. The topic of migration is frequently discussed because of the changes and the consolidation of the document management market with the disappearance of numerous producers. The omission of individual products forces the migration to other formats, sometimes with the help of its own migration program. Whoever introduces an archive system must therefore concern themselves right from beginning with the topic of migration planning.
Emulation
In the scientific world, yet another model is similarly strongly discussed - emulation. Emulation refers to simulating the characteristics of an older system in such a way that data of from this system can be used again with newer computers and operating systems. There are some examples, e.g., computer games or Apple computers. This solution strategy, however, is not yet used to a large extent in the area of long-term data storage. Disadvantages are that the expenditure of future emulation steps cannot be planned and one day it may not be feasible with too large a paradigm change. These disadvantages also apply in similar form to migrations that were not accomplished in time.
Capsule
As preparation for emulation, in particular, the capsulation procedure is suitable. In addition to the file or information object to be retained, the software with which one can visualise and reproduce it, as well as its associated meta data, are stored together in a "capsule". Thus all the information necessary for its use is immediately stored together for the future. Through this method, the objects stored can become very large, without a real guarantee that the accompanying archived software can be run on future operating system environments.
Conversion at Run-time
If the formats of the stored information objects cannot be controlled nor limited to a few long-term formats, converters and viewers need to be internally available in the system at all times in order to change older formats into displayable formats with the recall of the objects. In the medium-term, this means a multiplicity of converters and viewers that require their own administration need to be available in order to match an older information object with the right current converter, to be able to display the object. Conversion at run-time differs from emulation by the fact that an older environment is not called, but the object is changed to the current environment. Special characteristics of formats, electronic signatures and digital rights management components can lead to problems here, just like with the other procedures.
1.7 Laws and Regulations for Electronic Archiving
The topics of archiving and long-term storage have increased in significance, particularly in the last few years, through laws and regulations. The equal treatment of digital documents with electronic signatures and conventional paper documents, the Sarbanes Oxley Act and other compliance demands in the USA, and the discussion about archiving tax relevant data according to GDPdU in Germany make revision-safe archives and memory systems necessary. In the context of the discussion about the legal demands, the question of the "correct" storage medium frequently arose. Traditional WORM media, which are physically limited to single-use recording, claimed to be the only correct storage media. The manufacturers of hard drive systems and WORM Tapes countered. In principle, however, laws and regulations are medium neutral (or should be), since, in view of the long-term retention periods, technology changes must also be considered. The correct medium, therefore, does not exist. The entire procedure of archiving must be closed and safe. This goes beyond the question of the drives and media and includes also the organisational processes.
1.8 Further Advancement
Electronic archiving corresponds to the "Preserve" component in the Enterprise Content Management model. Source: AIIM/22#PROJECT CONSULT 2003
In the meantime, the deciding factor for the employment of archive storage technologies has become the software. It secures the inalterability of the information independently of the medium, it makes fast access possible, and it administers gigantic memory quantities. Thus far, electronic archives were a special domain of the archive system producers. Now however, the storage technology becomes ever more intelligent. System management and storage management software nowadays also administers electronic archives. Additionally, conventional archives management, record management, or content management systems for the content structuring, order, development and supply of the information, can also be used. The memory system producers are gearing up, however. Their goal is it to make archive memory available as an infrastructure - operating for all applications directly and equally. This trend from the year 2003 is called ILM, Information Lifecycle Management, and is to include electronic archiving. Particularly, the promise of unnecessary or automated ILM migrations arouses interest with many users. The demand for ILM is thereby clearly beyond the conventional HSM, Hierarchical Memory Management. The software for the administration of the entire life cycle of the information becomes increasingly central rather than the actual memory hardware. Electronic archiving is used as subordinate service, which is integrated in Enterprise Content Management solutions, but is an archiving component at the disposal of all applications, whose information must be kept on a long-term and secure basis.
Bibliography
- Uwe Borghoff, Peter Roedig, Jan Scheffczyk: Langzeitarchivierung, Long-term Archiving. dPunkt-Verlag, 2003, ISBN 3-8986-4245-3.
- Ulrich Kampffmeyer, Joerg Rogalla: Grundsätze der elektronischen Archivierung, Principles of Electronic Archiving. VOI-Kompendium Volume 3. VOI Verband Organisations- und Informationssysteme e.V., Darmstadt 1997, ISBN 3-932898-03-6.
- Ulrich Kampffmeyer: Grundlagen des Dokumentenmanagements, Principles of Document Management. Gabler Verlag 1997, ISBN 3-4098794-0-4.
- Ulrich Kampffmeyer: Elektronische Archivierung und Storage-Technologien, Electronic Archiving and Storage Technologies. Speicherguide [ 1 ], 2003.
- Ulrich Kampffmeyer: Dokumenten-Technologien: Wohin geht die Reise? Document Technologies: Where does the journey go?. Hamburg 2003, 411 pages, ISBN 3-9806756-4-5.
2. Revision Security
The term revision security refers to revision-safe archiving for electronic archive systems, which corresponds in Germany to the demands of the commercial code (§ § 239, 257 HGB), the tax code (§ § 146, 147 AO), the Principles of Regular Data Processing-supported Accounting Systems (GoBS) and also according to tax and commercial law. The term thereby orients itself from an economic perspective regarding any revisions and pertains to required-to-keep or worthy-to-keep information and documents. The term revision-safe archiving was coined in 1992 by Ulrich Kampffmeyer and was included in code of practice of the professional association of the document management industry, VOI Verband Organisations- und Informationssysteme e.V. (Federation of Organisation and Information Systems) e.V. as generally accepted in the year 1996. Revision security in connection with electronic archiving refers not only to the technical components but to the entire solution. Revision security includes safe operations, the organisation of the user enterprise, the normal usage, the safe procedures and verification in a procedure documentation. Substantial characteristics of revision-safe archive systems are that the information is with database-support re-locatable, comprehensible, unchangeable and tamper-resistant. Revision-safe archiving is a substantial component for the compliance of information systems.
2.1 Characteristics of Revision Security during Electronic Archiving
Deriving from the HGB regulations, the following criteria apply to revision security:
- correctness
- completeness
- security of the complete procedure
- protection from change and falsification
- protection from loss
- use only by entitled users
- adherence to the periods for safekeeping
- documentation of the procedure
- comprehensibleness
- controllability
2.2 Certification of Revision Security for Electronic Archive Systems
The examination of adherence to the terms and the certification of electronic archive systems and/or archive components integrated into commercial applications or document management systems is usually done via chartered accountants with the user on location. On the part of the IDW, Institute of the German Chartered Accountants, they have their own terms through FAIT (specialised committee for information technology).
The adherence to revision security can also be certified by TÜV-IT on basis of procedure documentation. This is based on the test criteria for document management solutions (PK-DML) of the VOI e.V. There is no generally valid certification for the revision security of individual hardware or software systems, e.g. optical memory, since the individual usage of the user, the correctness of the entire procedure, the quality of the information and processes, as well as the safe operation, are all components of revision security.
Bibliography
- Ulrich Kampffmeyer, Joerg Rogalla: Grundsätze der elektronischen Archivierung, Principles of Electronic Archiving. Code of Practice Volume 1. VOI Verband Organisations- und Informationssysteme e.V., Bonn, 2. Edition 1997, ISBN 3-932898-03-6.
- Grundsätze ordnungsmäßiger DV-gestützter Buchführungssysteme, Principles of Regular Data Processing-supported Accounting Systems (GoBS). Letter of the Federal Ministry of Finance to the upper fiscal authorities of the states from 7 November 1995 - IV A 8 - S 0316 - 52/95 - BStBl 1995 I S. 738f.
- Karl George Henstorf, Ulrich Kampffmeyer, January Prochnow: Grundsätze der Verfahrensdokumentation nach GoBS, Principles of Procedure Documentation in Accordance with GoBS. Code of Practice Volume 2. VOI Verband Organisations- und Informationssysteme e.V., Bonn, 1999, ISBN 3-932898-03-6.
- PK-DML Prüfkriterien für Dokumentenmanagement-Lösungen, Test Criteria for Document Management Solutions. VOI Verband Organisations- und Informationssysteme e.V., Bonn, 2. Edition 2004.
2.3 Principles of Regular Data Processing-supported Accounting Systems
Basic Data
Title: Principles of Regular Data Processing-supported Accounting Systems
Abbreviation: GoBS
Type: Administrative instructions
Area of application: Federal Republic of Germany
Legal subject: Commercial law, tax law
Original version from: 7. November 1995 - IV A 8 - S 0316 - 52/95
BStBl 1995 I S. 738
1) Please pay attention to the reference for applicable law!
The Principles for Regular Data Processing-supported Accounting Systems (GoBS) are the rules from 7 November 1995, set up by the German financial administration through letters from the Federal Department of Finance for accounting by means of data processing systems.
They were developed in co-operation with the Working Group for Economic Administration e. V. (AWV). The GoBS were revised in the year 2005 by the AWV. The publication of the new GoBS by the federal fiscal authorities is expected at the beginning of 2006.
In the GoBS, the treatment of records and data, that are required to be kept, in electronic record-keeping systems as well as in document management and archive systems is regulated. A substantial, quintessential point is the IKS "Internal Control System". The GoBS contains the terms for the procedure documentation which is necessary for the substantiation of the correct operation of the system. Directly, they have validity only for fiscal record-keeping. There are, however, numerous – especially small and medium (KMU) – enterprises, who provide a single balance, that are also affected by commercial law record-keeping. Since such a large number of business people follow these rules, they become the commercial custom and thus become commercial law principles of regular accounting (GoB).
For more information, check:
http://www.bundesfinanzministerium.de/.../publicationFile.pdf
3. Legal
3.1 HGB (Trade law) § 239 Keeping of Accounting Books
Version from 19 December 1985
(1) For keeping accounting books and with any other necessary record-keeping the bookkeeper has to use a living language. If abbreviations, numbers, letters or symbols are used in individual cases, their meaning must be clearly stated.
(2) The entries into books and other necessary recordings must be made completely, correctly, and in a timely and orderly fashion.
(3) An entry or a recording may not be changed in a way that original contents can no longer be recognised. Also, changes, making it unclear whether they were made originally or only at a later time, may not be made.
(4) The accounting books and other necessary recordings can also be kept through organised filing of records or be done on data media, as long as these forms of record-keeping correspond to the procedure used with the principles of regular record-keeping. With the keeping of the accounting books and other necessary records on data media it must be, in particular, guaranteed that the data is available during the duration of the period for safekeeping and can be within an appropriate timeframe made readable at any time. Sections 1 to 3 apply in a general manner.
3.2 HGB § 257 Keeping of Documents. Periods for Safekeeping
Version from 04 December 2004
(1) Each bookkeeper is obligated to keep the following documents organised:
- Accounting books, inventories, opening balances, end-of-year reports, single contracts according to § 325 exp. 2a, reports on the situation, company contracts, company reports on the situation as well as the work instructions and other organisational documents necessary for understanding them,
- commercial letters received,
- copies of commercial letters sent,
- documentation for entries into the books must be kept according to § 238 Abs. 1 (Posted Entries’ Documentation)
(3) With exception of the opening balances and contracts, the documents specified in Section 1 can also be kept as a rendition on an image carrier or on other data media, if this corresponds to the principles of regular record-keeping and is guaranteed that the rendition or the data
- corresponds figuratively with the received commercial letters and documentation and with the other documents in content, when they are made readable,
- are available during the duration of the period for safekeeping and within an appropriate timeframe can be made readable again at any time. If documents were on data media according to § 239 Section 4, Sentence 1, the data can also be kept printed out instead of the data medium; the printed out documents can be kept also according to Sentence 1
(5) The period for safekeeping begins with the conclusion of the calendar year in which the last entry into the accounting book was made, the inventory was made, the opening balance or the end-of-year procedure was determined, the single contract according to § 325 Section 2a or the company contract was up, the commercial letter received or mailed or the receipt created.
3.3 AO 1977 § 146 Regulations for Record-keeping and for Entries
Newly collected by Bek. v. 1.10.2002 I 3866; 2003 I 61, last changed by Article. 4 Section. 22 G from 22/9/2005 I 2809
(1) The entries and other necessary recordings are to be complete, correct, timely and organised. Cash income and cash expenditure are to be recorded daily.
(2) Books and other necessary recordings are to be kept and stored according to this law. This does not apply as far as enterprises have an obligation according to a law outside of the area of application of this law to keep books and recordings, and that obligation is fulfilled. In this case, as well as with affiliated companies outside of the area of application of this law, the results of the record-keeping there must be transferred to the record-keeping of the local enterprise, as far as they are of importance for taxation. The necessary adjustments are to be made according to tax law regulations in the area of application of this law and clearly marked.
(3) The entries and other necessary recordings are to be made in a living language. If other than the German language is used, then the fiscal authority can require translations. If abbreviations, numbers, letters or symbols are used in individual cases, their meaning must be clearly stated.
(4) An entry or a recording may not be changed in a way that original contents can no longer be recognised. Also, changes, making it unclear whether they were made originally or only at a later time, may not be made.
(5) The books and other necessary recordings can also be kept through organised filing of records or be done on data media, as long as these forms of record-keeping correspond to the procedure used with the principles of regular-record keeping; during recordings, which are to be made solely according to tax laws, the validity of the applied procedure determines itself according to the purpose, for which the recordings for the taxation are to serve. With the keeping of books and other necessary recordings on data media, it must be, in particular, guaranteed that during the duration of the period for safekeeping the data is available at any time and can be made readable again immediately. This applies also to the powers of the fiscal authority according to § 147 Section 6. Sections 1 to 4 apply in a general manner.
(6) The regulations apply, even if the bookkeeper keeps books and recordings that are of importance for taxation, without being obligated to do this.
3.4 AO 1977 § 147 Regulations for the Keeping of Documents
Newly collected by Bek. v. 1.10.2002 I 3866; 2003 I 61, last changed by Article 4 Section 22 G from 22/9/2005 I 2809
(1) The following documents should be keeped:
1. Books and records, inventories, end-of-year reports, reports on the situation, opening balance as well as the work instructions and other organisational documents necessary for understanding them,
2. the received commercial or business letters,
3. copies of sent commercial or business letters,
4. transaction receipts,
4a. documents, that - according to Article 77 Section 1 in connection with Article 62 Section 2 of the Customs Code – have been created through data processing to be attached to a customs registration, if the customs authorities according to Article 77 Section 2 Sentence 1 of the Customs Code did not require them or returned them after submission,
5. other documents, as far as they are of importance for taxation.
(2) With the exception of year-end reports, the opening balance and documents specified in Section 1 No. 4a can also be kept as a rendition on an image carrier or on other data media, if this corresponds to the principles of regular record-keeping and it is guaranteed that the rendition or the data
- corresponds figuratively with the received commercial or business letters and receipts and with the other documents in content, when they are made readable,
- are available during the duration of the period for safekeeping and can be made readable again immediately and mechanically be evaluated.
(3) The specified documents in Section 1 No. 1, 4 and 4a are to be kept for 10 years, the other documents specified in Section 1 for six years, unless in other tax laws shorter periods for safekeeping are permitted. Shorter periods for safekeeping according to outside fiscal laws leave the period determined in Sentence 1 unaffected. The period for safekeeping does not run out however, as far as and as long as the documents are of importance for taxes, for which the appointment period has not yet run out; § 169 Section 2 Sentence 2 does not apply.
(4) The period for safekeeping begins with the conclusion of the calendar year, in which the last entry into the book was made, the inventory, the opening balance, the end-of-year report or the report on the situation was made, the commercial or business letter were received or mailed or the receipt created, further recording was made or other documents were developed.
(5) Whoever submits to-be-kept documents in the form of a rendition on an image carrier or on other data media is obligated to make those aids available at his own expense in order to make the documents readable; upon the request of the fiscal authority, he has to print out the documents at his expense immediately, completely or partly or to provide reproductions readable without aids.
(6) If the documents in accordance with Section 1 were created with the help of a data processing system, the fiscal authority has the right in the context of an external examination to have insight into the stored data and to use the data processing system for the examination of these documents. It can also require, in the context of an external examination, that the data are evaluated by machine according to their terms or the stored documents and recordings made available on a data medium that can be used by a machine. The taxpayer bears the cost.
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