How long should you keep your administrative papers?

Invoices, receipts, payslips… Administrative papers are numerous and pile up easily with us, especially when we have small areas.

To help you sort it out, the Ministry of the Economy and Finance published a new note at the end of 2022 indicating the legal retention period for all these administrative papers. “The purpose of keeping personal documents is to prove the existence of a right or the fulfillment of an obligation. Retention periods vary depending on the nature of the document.says the note.

Here are the most salient points to remember:

All documents relating to family or health must be kept permanently.

These documents include, among others:

• civil status certificates as well as full copies and birth certificates
• judgments of divorce or judgments of adoption
• marriage contracts and all documents relating to property brought or acquired during the marriage by gift or bequest
• family records
• the diplomas
• deeds of sale (also called title deeds)
• vaccination record, blood group card, health record
• a medical certificate, a medical examination (for example, an x-ray)

Documents related to his professional activity must also be kept for the long term. Indeed, these documents are very useful in the calculation of pension rights.

Among these documents are:

• pay slips
• employment contracts
• work certificates
• statements of daily sickness and maternity allowances
• Pôle Emploi certificates
• documents related to a military career (military booklet, certificates of services completed, etc.)

Another document to keep to allow the calculation of your rights to the survivor’s pension: the payment slips of the retirement pension

Did you know ? The employer must keep a duplicate of the payslips for at least five years. You can therefore return to him if you are missing a document.

For insurance-related documents, the legal retention period varies between two and ten years.

The documents that must be kept for two years “from the date of the document” are the following: receipts, notices of expiry, insurance contracts and termination letters.

Only the life insurance contract and the documents relating to bodily injury must be kept for ten years by the beneficiary.

Water, gas and electricity bills must be kept for five years. Telecommunications bills (landline, mobile and internet subscription) must be invoiced for one year.

Proof of return of equipment (such as an internet box or a mobile phone) must be kept for two years from the return.

Income tax returns, tax notices and supporting documents used must be kept for three years from the year following the tax year. For example, a declaration from 2022 must be kept until the end of 2025.

All local tax notices (property tax and housing tax) must be kept for one year (three years in the event of relief, exemption or abatement).

Only documents related to real estate wealth tax are to be kept for 10 years.

Apart from the title deeds which must be kept permanently, all documents related to the dwelling must be kept between one and ten years.

A chimney-sweeping certificate must be kept for one year, a boiler maintenance certificate for two years, invoices relating to minor work (thermal or sound insulation, windows, etc.) for two years, while invoices for maintenance work structural work (walls, frames, roof, etc.) can be kept for ten years…

All documents related to the co-ownership (charges, calls for funds, correspondence, minutes, etc.) must be kept for five years.

For tenants of a main residence, the rental contract, inventory of fixtures and rent receipts must be kept for 3 years from the end of the rental (empty or furnished), even if they have moved into another lodging.

Proof of payment of personalized housing assistance (APL) must be kept for two years.

The reports for fixed fines received must be kept for 3 years, the time limit for complaints from the Public Treasury. The certificate of transfer of the vehicle, the purchase or repair invoices are to be kept for the entire duration of possession of the property and 2 years after its resale.

The driver’s license and the statement of information concerning the contract of auto insurance, are, in turn, to keep all his life.

Home loan, consumer credit or miscellaneous bank loan contracts are to be kept for 2 years after the final due date. Bank statements and check stubs must be kept for 5 years.

Regarding checks, the beneficiary has up to 1 year to cash it. After this period, the beneficiary will no longer be able to cash these checks.

Credit card tickets (payment and withdrawal from an ATM) can be discarded as soon as the amounts appear on the bank account statement.

Faced with the accumulation of papers, it can be tempting to digitize all of these documents. Be careful, warns the administration: “if a document is sent to you in digital format (by means of an e-mail or by downloading it from a website), you can keep it in digital format”.

However, “if the document is sent to you in paper format (delivered by hand or sent by post), keep the original, in paper form”. A scan of an official document would only be a copy and you could be asked for the original! So try to keep the documents named above in pockets, so as not to bend them and keep them away from humidity or dust.

LR