GeBüV Explained Simply: Digital Document Retention in Switzerland (2026)

As of: July 2026 · This article is not legal advice.

What is the GeBüV? The GeBüV (Ordinance on the Keeping and Preservation of Business Records, SR 221.431) governs how Swiss companies must keep and retain their books of account and accounting vouchers. It gives concrete shape to the 10-year retention obligation under Art. 958f CO and permits electronic archiving, provided the integrity, traceability and availability of the records are ensured.

So retaining records digitally is expressly permitted — paper is not necessary in almost all cases. This guide translates the ordinance (full text on Fedlex, in force unchanged since 2013) into the everyday practice of an SME.

Who does the GeBüV apply to?

To everyone required to keep accounts under the Swiss Code of Obligations (Art. 957 para. 1 CO): sole proprietorships and partnerships with CHF 500,000 or more in revenue in the last financial year, as well as legal entities (GmbH, AG, cooperative); exceptions apply only to certain associations and foundations not required to be entered in the commercial register (Art. 957 para. 2 CO).

Anyone below that threshold, who only has to keep simplified “income-and-expenditure” accounts, has reduced bookkeeping obligations — but must still retain records: tax law expressly requires the self-employed and legal entities to keep records and vouchers for 10 years (Art. 126 para. 3 DBG), under the rules of Art. 957–958f CO.

Retention periods in Switzerland: the table

The period runs from the end of the financial year — a receipt from January 2026 remains subject to retention until the end of 2036.

Document	Retention period	Form	Legal basis
Annual report (financial statements)	10 years	Signed — on paper or electronically with a qualified electronic signature (QES)	Art. 958f para. 2 CO
Audit report	10 years	Signed — on paper or electronically with a qualified electronic signature (QES)	Art. 958f para. 2 CO
Books of account (general ledger, journals)	10 years	Paper or electronic	Art. 958f para. 1+3 CO
Accounting vouchers (invoices, receipts; contracts and correspondence, insofar as they substantiate an entry)	10 years	Paper or electronic	Art. 958f CO; FTA VAT Info 16
Documents relating to immovable property (purchase contracts, construction-cost statements, associated invoices)	20 years — thereafter until the tax limitation period is reached	Paper or electronic	Art. 70 para. 3 VAT Act; FTA VAT Info 16 no. 1.6.2
After liquidation of a company	10 years from deregistration	In a safe place	Art. 747 CO
Private individuals	No general statutory obligation (recommended: until the tax assessment is legally final)	—	—

The period runs from the end of the financial year, not from the document date (Art. 958f para. 1 CO): a receipt from January 2026 must remain available until the end of 2036. Under VAT law, retention generally runs until the absolute limitation of the tax claim (Art. 70 para. 2 in conjunction with Art. 42 para. 6 VAT Act) — which can easily extend beyond the end of the CO period.

Because the periods run per financial year, it pays to organize your filing so that the year is the load-bearing folder level — the template for that. Who is obliged, which documents fall under the duty and what happens on violations is covered in the retention-obligation guide. The period for a single document type is worked out by the retention period calculator.

The GeBüV at a glance: Art. 3–10

Article	Title	What it requires in practice
Art. 3	Integrity (authenticity and tamper-resistance)	Records must “not be capable of being changed without this being detectable”
Art. 4	Documentation	The organization, responsibilities, processes and infrastructure of retention must be recorded in working instructions
Art. 5	General duty of care	Retain records “carefully, in an orderly manner and protected against harmful effects”
Art. 6	Availability	Authorized persons must be able to inspect and examine records “within a reasonable period”
Art. 7	Organization	Archived information must be kept separate from current information; responsibilities defined
Art. 8	Archive	Systematic filing, inventory, protection against unauthorized access, logging of data access and physical entry
Art. 9	Permitted information carriers	See below — the core article for “digital instead of paper”
Art. 10	Verification and data migration	Check data media regularly for integrity and legibility; migration is permitted provided completeness and availability remain ensured

What does the GeBüV require for digital retention?

Cloud storage is permitted — but only if integrity, time stamp, regulations and documentation are all satisfied together.

The core is set out in Art. 9 GeBüV — two paths are permitted:

1. Unalterable information carriers — “namely paper, image carriers and unalterable data media” (WORM).
2. Alterable information carriers (hard drives, cloud) — permitted if, cumulatively: technical procedures ensure the integrity of the stored information (the law gives “digital signature procedures” as an example), the time of storage can be proven in a tamper-proof way (example in the law: “time stamp”), the relevant regulations on the procedures used are complied with, and the processes are documented while auxiliary information such as logs and log files is retained as well.

Added to this are the duties of care under Art. 5 and 6 GeBüV: records must be retained carefully, in an orderly manner and protected against harmful effects (Art. 5), and must be viewable and verifiable within a reasonable period (Art. 6); the data media must be checked regularly for integrity and legibility (Art. 10).

Translated into the everyday practice of an SME: You need (a) a system in which records are stored unaltered and traceably, (b) an order that lets you find every record again, and (c) protection against loss. The GeBüV does not prescribe a backup in so many words — but without a second copy in a second location, the required protection against loss (Art. 5) and legibility over 10 years (Art. 6/10) is in practice hard to guarantee.

Process documentation (Art. 4): the underestimated minimum

Art. 4 GeBüV requires that the retention processes be documented — in practice, a one-page working instruction that answers five questions is enough for a small SME:

1. Who is responsible for filing the records (including deputy)?
2. How are records captured (scan app, email import, upload)?
3. Where are they stored (system, folder structure, naming scheme)?
4. How is the backup made (second copy, location, frequency)?
5. How is it verified (annual spot check for legibility)?

For a small SME, a one-page working instruction that answers these five questions is enough.

Hardly any guide mentions this article — yet in an audit, missing process documentation is one of the most common formal deficiencies.

Is bexio GeBüV-compliant?

bexio addresses formal archiving with the Document Archive (since 1 March 2026): audit-proof filing using the “OriginVault” time-stamp technology of the Swiss partner OriginStamp AG, full-text search and tags — but only in the Optima (CHF 69) and Ultimate (CHF 119) plans. Important here: according to the service description, bexio guarantees GeBüV compliance “exclusively for documents stored directly in the Document Archive from 1 March 2026 onward” — for the years before that, the burden of proof remains with the customer.

On Basic (CHF 35) and Advanced (CHF 42) there is no such archive; there the records sit in the inbox, and order, verifiability and loss protection remain entirely your job (what the Document Archive can do — and the alternatives).

And regardless of the plan: the records sit with bexio, and bexio itself recommends “additionally keeping the records outside of bexio in each case” (help article 000001647). The 10-year obligation does not end with your software subscription — there is no self-service full export.

Is Google Drive GeBüV-compliant?

Yes — Google Drive meets the technical prerequisites for filing records in a GeBüV-compliant and audit-proof way. SECO’s SME portal states that cloud storage is subject to “the stricter requirements for alterable electronic data media” (kmu.admin.ch) — Google Drive technically covers exactly these requirements (integrity protection, provable storage time, logs); the small organizational remainder you handle yourself (our fiduciary’s assessment). Incidentally, there is no state “GeBüV certification” — compliance always remains the company’s responsibility; product certificates (such as from the KRM testing body) are private-sector audits. The detailed answer to exactly this question — including the clean split between technology and organization — is in “Is Google Drive GeBüV-compliant?”.

What a Google Drive mirror of your bexio records additionally delivers:

• Loss protection (Art. 5 GeBüV): a complete, continuously up-to-date second copy outside the accounting system — in your own account.
• Availability and findability (Art. 6): Google’s OCR full-text search finds records in seconds, even years later, even with cryptic file names — exactly what “inspect and examine within a reasonable period” means in practice.
• Exit security: The 10-year obligation survives any change of provider, as long as the records are with you.

The sensible approach is therefore the combination: bexio (or its Document Archive) as the primary system — and an automatic mirror like quintio.ch as your own searchable second copy.

What happens in the event of a violation?

The retention obligation is not a mere formality:

• Fine: Anyone who fails to comply with the obligation to properly keep and retain the books of account commits a punishable contravention (Art. 325 StGB).
• Discretionary assessment: If reliable documents are missing, the FTA and the assessment authority estimate the tax “at their dutiful discretion” (Art. 79 VAT Act; Art. 130 para. 2 DBG) — challengeable only “on grounds of manifest inaccuracy” (Art. 132 para. 3 DBG).
• Input VAT deduction: No voucher, no proof — the deduction can be refused.
• Evidentiary disadvantages: In a civil dispute, the evidence is missing.

Checklist: record retention for Swiss SMEs

1. Capture all records digitally (scan or PDF original) — paper can then be disposed of in most cases (exceptions).
2. Retain the annual report and audit report signed — on paper or electronically with a qualified electronic signature (QES).
3. Assign records to a system (accounting software), do not collect them in loose folders.
4. Create a one-page process documentation (Art. 4 — template above).
5. Keep an automatic second copy outside the system — your own Drive, your own storage, your own control.
6. Keep deletion periods under control: dispose of nothing before the 10 years are up; for real-estate documents, 20 years and until the tax limitation period.
7. Test once a year: can you find any record from three years ago in under a minute — and is it still legible (Art. 10)?

Frequently asked questions (FAQ)

What is the GeBüV? The Ordinance on the Keeping and Preservation of Business Records (GeBüV, SR 221.431) — it gives concrete shape to how the documents subject to retention under the CO must be kept and archived, on paper or digitally.

How long must documents be retained in Switzerland? Books of account, accounting vouchers, and the annual and audit report: 10 years from the end of the financial year (Art. 958f CO). The annual and audit report signed — on paper or electronically with QES; everything else may be archived digitally. Documents relating to immovable property: 20 years (Art. 70 para. 3 VAT Act), and correspondingly longer where the tax limitation period is still running.

Which business documents must be retained for 10 years? The general ledger and journals, all accounting vouchers (invoices, receipts, contracts and correspondence, insofar as they substantiate entries), and the annual and audit report.

Does the retention obligation also apply to private individuals? No — the 10-year obligation applies to businesses. Private individuals are well advised to keep tax records until the assessment is legally final, and real-estate documents considerably longer.

Is storage in the cloud GeBüV-compliant? Yes — under the conditions of Art. 9 para. 1 let. b GeBüV (integrity protection, provable storage time, documentation, logs). The SECO SME portal classifies cloud storage as alterable data media subject to the stricter requirements — Google Drive meets these technical conditions (our assessment).

Is storing records in the accounting software enough? Organizationally, usually yes — but loss protection and exit security are missing when the only copy sits with the software provider and is deleted after the contract ends (with bexio: one month after cancellation, GTC no. 5.7).

What happens if I cannot produce records? A fine under Art. 325 StGB, a discretionary assessment by the tax authorities (challengeable only on grounds of manifest inaccuracy), a refused input VAT deduction, and evidentiary disadvantages in a dispute.

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quintio.ch continuously mirrors all documents from bexio into your own Google Drive — searchable, with OCR, effortless. Your second copy for the next 10 years.

Sources

• Art. 957 / 957a / 958f CO (SR 220, Fedlex)
• GeBüV — Ordinance on the Keeping and Preservation of Business Records (SR 221.431, Fedlex)
• Art. 70 VAT Act (SR 641.20, Fedlex) · Art. 126 DBG (SR 642.11) · Art. 325 StGB
• SECO SME portal: Electronic retention of business books (retrieved July 2026)
• FTA: VAT audit — retention · FTA VAT Info 16, no. 1.6
• Service description bexio Document Archive (PDF, 1 March 2026)