Why this page exists
If your business is required to keep invoices for ten years, you need to know exactly what your provider is doing with them. This page explains how Rekivo archives every invoice you receive, the audit trail we keep, and what you can take with you at any time. Everything here is also written into our terms — this page just makes it scannable.
Four principles
Unaltered originals
The original XML and PDF you received are stored as-is. We never re-encode, re-format, or re-sign them. Every file is referenced by a SHA-256 hash so any later tampering becomes mathematically visible.
Append-only audit log
Every status change, comment, export, and download is recorded with a timestamp and the acting user. The audit log can be exported alongside any invoice.
GoBD-compliant retention
Invoices and their audit trail are retained for at least ten years from the end of the calendar year they were received, in line with §147 AO and the GoBD.
Your data, exportable any time
Original XML, original PDF, rendered PDF, validation report, manifest CSV, and audit log are all available as a one-click ZIP — from Free up to Business. No lock-in.
Retention period
We keep your invoice data for the legally required ten years even after you cancel — unless you ask us to delete it earlier. Specifically:
- Invoice content (XML, PDF, rendered PDF, validation report): 10 years from end of receiving year.
- Audit log entries linked to those invoices: same retention period.
- Account-level data not linked to invoices (settings, member list): deleted within 30 days of cancellation unless you request earlier deletion.
What's in the audit trail
For every invoice, we record:
- When and how it arrived (forwarded email address, manual upload, API).
- Validation result and every check that ran (EN 16931 rules, format, schema).
- Every workflow change — who approved, rejected, or marked it paid, and when.
- Every export and download — who took the file out of the system.
Exporting everything at any time
From the Export tab you can generate a complete Steuerberater pack for any date range: every XML, every rendered PDF, every per-invoice validation report, a manifest CSV, and (when DATEV CSV ships) the matching booking file. There's no monthly or yearly quota on export — you can pull your data as often as you like, even on the free plan.
If you cancel
Cancelling never deletes anything immediately. The flow:
- Your subscription stays active until the end of the current billing period.
- You can run a final Steuerberater export covering the entire history of the account.
- If you do nothing further, account access ends at period end. Invoice data is retained read-only for the 10-year retention period unless you explicitly request earlier deletion.
If a payment fails
We never lock you out of invoices you've already received. A failed payment puts the account into read-only mode — you can still view, download, and export every invoice in your archive. Only new ingestion (inbound email, uploads) is paused until billing is restored. This way your GoBD retention obligation is never put at risk by a credit-card hiccup.
The guarantee in one sentence
Whether you stay or leave, every invoice you've received through Rekivo is yours to export — in its original form, with a verifiable hash and a complete audit trail — for the entire retention period.