Document Retention Under Record-Keeping Rules: What to Preserve and How to Make It Findable

A digital archive is not a folder called “scanned invoices.” For a document to be useful in an audit or in operations, the business must be able to find it by transaction, supplier, customer, date, or reference number, understand its origin, and see whether it changed. The Israel Tax Authority has published guidance concerning document scanning and digital archiving.

Four components of a reliable archive

First, retain the source document and its link to the system record. Second, define permissions: who may view, upload, amend, or delete. Third, back up in a way that is tested, not merely assumed because a cloud drive exists. Fourth, document system migrations so files and metadata remain accessible after a supplier change.

Do not place one retention period for every document in code or in a blog post. Requirements can depend on record type and circumstances. Agree a policy with the appropriate accountant or adviser, then translate it into archive rules: classification, start date, review date, and a deletion hold when needed.

The practical test is simple: ask the team to locate one random document and its complete context within minutes, without asking a long-serving employee or searching dozens of folders.

Source

Israel Tax Authority guidance on document scanning and digital archives