Keeping documents in order: which document goes where, and how long is it kept?

Nermin Hanım the florist's shoebox

In Nermin Hanım's flower shop the documents sit in a shoebox. Invoices, receipts, bank slips, the rent contract, all in the same box. Last week her mali müşavir (accountant) called: "We need the invoice for the refrigerated cabinet you bought in March last year." Nermin Hanım spent an evening emptying the box. The invoice turned up, but the box never went back to how it was.

In this lesson we set up a simple system in which every document has an address, and we see how long to keep each document. We talked about why a document is essential in the lesson Invoices, receipts and documents; here we move on to keeping them in order.

Two questions, one address

Ask every document two questions:

1. Which month does it belong to? Look at the document's date.
2. Did money come in or go out? Is it the document for something you sold, or something you bought?

These two answers are the document's address. One folder for the year, one section for each month, and four files inside each month:

• Sales: invoices you issued, cash register end-of-day reports.
• Purchases and expenses: invoices you received, receipts.
• Bank and card: bank slips, bank and credit card statements, POS statements.
• Employees: if you have any, payslips, wage bank slips, SGK papers.

And a permanent file that sits outside the months: the rent contract, the tax certificate, the start-of-business papers, fixed-asset invoices (things you will use for years, such as a cabinet, a machine or a vehicle). These don't change every month and are kept longer.

Which document goes where

In this system Nermin Hanım's refrigerated cabinet invoice would have been in two places: a copy in that month's purchases file, the original in the permanent file. Her mali müşavir's question would have been answered in two minutes.

Electronic invoices also go somewhere

The e-Invoice (e-Fatura) and the e-Archive invoice (e-Arşiv fatura) are electronic documents. The ones you issue are kept in the program or portal you use. The ones sent to you arrive by e-mail or through the e-Invoice system.

• Save an invoice that arrives by e-mail on your computer or phone, in a folder with the same structure: year, month, purchases.
• Even if you print it on paper, don't delete the electronic version.
• If you change your invoicing program or the company you get the service from, ask in advance how you will reach your old invoices throughout the retention period.

A note if you are under simplified taxation or keep an operating account book: until the end of 2026 you can issue only small-amount invoices on paper; from 1 January 2027, whatever the amount, every invoice will be e-Archive (VUK General Communiqué No. 509, as amended by No. 589). If you still issue paper invoices, talk to your mali müşavir about which invoices can stay on paper and how to prepare for the switch.

Check an invoice you receive the week it arrives: are the amount, date and business name correct? If there is a mistake in a commercial invoice, object within 8 days from the day you received it; if you don't, you are deemed to have accepted its content (Turkish Commercial Code art. 21/2). Object in a way that leaves a trace (e-mail, KEP (registered electronic mail) or a notary); saying it on the phone can't be proven later. You saw how a wrong invoice is corrected in the lesson How to correct an invoice issued by mistake.

A separate note for rent

You must pay workplace rent through a bank or PTT, whatever the amount; this obligation belongs to both the tenant and the landlord (Income Tax General Communiqué Serial No. 328, Official Gazette 17.10.2024). Rent paid by hand has no proof. In the description on the bank slip, write which month's rent it is, for example "October 2026 workplace rent". The contract stays in the permanent file, and each month's bank slip in that month's bank file. If the landlord is an individual and you need to withhold tax from the rent, your mali müşavir calculates it; the day is in the lesson A month's calendar.

How long are they kept?

For tax purposes the basic rule is Tax Procedure Law art. 253: books and documents are kept for 5 years starting from the beginning of the calendar year following the year they relate to. An invoice for 2026 is kept for 5 years from 1 January 2027, that is, until the end of 2031. Whether it is electronic or paper doesn't change the period.

For some documents the period is longer:

• Commercial Code: Businesses that count as merchants (tacir), including all companies, keep their books and documents for 10 years (TTK art. 82).
• Employee documents: Documents and records relating to SGK are kept for 10 years (Law No. 5510 art. 86).
• Fixed-asset invoices: If the cost of a machine is expensed by spreading it over years (this is called depreciation), the year in which the last share is expensed can also be examined for 5 years from the start of the following year, and the examiner will ask for the invoice that share is based on. So the purchase invoice is kept for 5 more years from the start of the year after the spreading ends. This is not a separate article in the law; it is an established practice that follows from the tax statute of limitations (VUK art. 114). So the invoice for a cabinet expensed over 5 years stays in the file for about 10 years; for things expensed over a longer period, such as a building, the period is even longer.
• Prior-year loss: If a year's loss is carried forward to later years, that year's documents are also kept longer.

If you are not sure which of these applies to you, keeping everything for at least 10 years is the safest way; for a fixed-asset invoice, calculate the period as above. The details are in the article How many years are invoices and books kept? (in Turkish).

Close the folder at the end of the month

On the last working day of the month, look over the four files once. Is anything empty or looking incomplete? Ask for any invoice that hasn't arrived that week. Then write a short note on top of the file: "October 2026: 30 sales invoices, 18 purchase invoices, 25 receipts, 2 statements." Send this note and the documents to your mali müşavir. Discuss with your mali müşavir whether the originals will stay with them or with you; whoever keeps them, the obligation to retain them stays with you. The full monthly handover list is in the lesson What to send your mali müşavir every month.

Nermin Hanım's shelf

Nermin Hanım put the shoebox away and set a box with twelve compartments on the shelf. On her phone she also created folders with the same names. A month later her mali müşavir called again: "The invoice for the flowerpots in September?" Nermin Hanım found it without hanging up.