Paperless
In Germany, according to the GoBD (Principles of the proper management and storage of books, records and documents in electronic form and for data access), it is possible to carry out paperless expense reports. In order to do so without keeping the original receipts, there are a few requirements that need to be taken into account.
Examples of such requirements set by the GoBD are:
- Scanned documents must match the originals.
- Documents must be made available, in a readable and machine-readable form, whenever requested.
- The data must be kept for 10 years regardless of any system changes in hardware or software.
All requirements can be found in the GoBD. Please keep in mind that one of the requirements is also that a company that wants to go paperless has to detail and document their internal processes regarding the storage of the electronic documents.