Everything You Need to Know About Electronic Invoice Archiving and How to Stay Compliant

Electronic Invoice Archiving

If you’ve ever felt overwhelmed by changing electronic invoicing (e-invoicing) rules or unsure what compliant e-invoice archiving means, you’re not alone. A critical part of this transformation is ensuring that invoices are stored adequately, so their origin, content integrity, and legibility are protected for the entire retention period.

If you ask the tax authorities or a consultancy firm what the rules are for archiving e-invoices, chances are you’ll end up with a swamp of answers and still won’t know what exactly is required.

If you are reading this article, you might be asking yourself, ‘Do I need to store only incoming invoices or also the ones I sent? Can I print electronic invoices and still stay compliant? What if I don’t have the Pan European Public Procurement Online (Peppol) Universal Business Language (UBL) format – or other compliant formats, can I still archive safely? How can I make my invoices readable for auditors or tax authorities?’

This article addresses the what ifs, how's, and where's of this process, offering practical guidance to help your team fulfill legal obligations with confidence.

Understanding E-Invoice Archiving

The definition of electronic archiving is the structured, secure preservation of invoices in digital form, ensuring they remain authentic, unaltered, readable, and accessible. The answers to what, how, where, and how long depend on national regulations, internal governance, and the chosen invoice archiving software.

Compared to paper, compliant e-invoice archiving reduces physical storage, eliminates manual filing, and enables the rapid retrieval of invoices. Integrity is strengthened through digital signatures, time stamps, and tamper-evident storage. Role-based access, audit trails, and automated retention controls replace manual, cabinet-based processes, supporting e-invoicing compliance at scale.

E-invoice platforms such as Descartes eArchiving™ facilitate the complete invoice lifecycle, from capture and validation to policy-based retention and audit responses. This electronic archiving system secures data during transit and storage, ensures verifiable authenticity, and complies with the invoice archiving regulations of various governments. the invoice archiving regulations of various governments.

Why Archiving E-Invoices Matters

Archiving isn’t just about ticking a compliance box, it’s about protecting your business, your reputation, and your customers’ trust.

Most tax authorities require Value Added Tax (VAT) relevant documents to be retained securely and remain unaltered and accessible for a defined period of time. Effective e-invoice archiving underpins compliance, audit readiness, and smooth financial operations.

Operationally, compliant e-invoice archiving accelerates dispute resolution, supports month-end and tax reporting, and improves decision-making through reliable data. These capabilities shorten processing times and reduce retrieval effort.

On the other hand, weak archiving increases chances of penalties, failed audits, and reputational damage. With the right electronic archiving system in place, you’re not just storing data, you’re safeguarding the financial integrity of your organization.

Five Key Points to Think About When Archiving E-Invoices

Here are five important steps that will keep your e-invoice archive compliant, no guesswork needed:

1. Archive all invoices, incoming or outgoing.

Learn the retention rules in the country where you operate, assign ownership across teams, and standardize formats where possible.

2. Be aware of the statutory retention period applicable in your country and sector.

Retention periods vary by jurisdiction. For example, Belgium mandates a retention period of 10 years, and the United Kingdom mandates a retention period of 6 years. Depending on the sector of your business, such as pharmaceuticals, financial services, and logistics, these often face longer or more complex recordkeepingg due to quality standards, regulations, or cross-border trade requirements.

3. Avoid reliance on (only) PDFs.

Don’t rely on PDFs alone if authenticity or integrity could be compromised. Authenticity refers to the verified origin of the invoice and can be demonstrated through accepted controls, such as digital signatures, Electronic Data Interchange (EDI), or other mechanisms recognized by the Member States.

Integrity is the assurance that the invoice content hasn’t changed or been altered after issuance. Any change must be detectable and auditable through hash checks, signatures, and comprehensive logs.

4. Archive electronic invoices in the cloud when specific conditions are met.

This way of archiving is only acceptable if authenticity, integrity, and readability are guaranteed when stored and kept in the cloud.

5. Standardized e-invoicing with Peppol UBL or a custom format.

If your trading partners or government portals use Peppol, adopting the UBL format from the start simplifies exchange, archiving, and future-proofing. Support for standardized e-invoicing formats such as Peppol UBL ensures interoperability across platforms and compliance with European standards, while maintaining flexibility for organizations that use other approved formats.

Choose Descartes for your E-Invoice Archiving

When choosing an e-invoice archiving solution, look for one that meets certification standards such as SOC 2 Type I & II, ISAE 3000, and ISO 27001, indicators of trust and data protection.

Descartes eArchiving™ delivers compliant e-invoice archiving with controls that preserve authenticity of origin, integrity of content, and legibility. The software enables users to archive electronic invoices within the Descartes infrastructure or within their own environment, even across multiple archives.

The application provides intuitive search, easy download, and built-in audit capabilities, helping auditors verify invoice content and details in both original and human-readable formats.

Want to simplify compliance and be stress-free knowing your invoices are audit-ready? Get in touch with one of our experts, they’ll help you build a compliant, secure archiving process you can rely on.