Digitising documents means turning paper into a complete, legible and correctly assigned digital record. A quick scan is not enough for that. The moment at which you decide whether to destroy the paper originals is particularly important. This guide shows a controlled procedure for an SME, explains what the Code of Obligations (CO, OR), the Ordinance on Accounting Records (GeBüV) and the Federal Tax Administration (FTA) say about it, and separates three tasks that are often confused: text recognition, filing and retention.
Clarify the stock and the purpose first
Start with a manageable stock. Separate ordinary vouchers, contracts, personnel records and other correspondence. This classification helps with assigning rights and checking periods, and prevents a pile of invoices from unnoticed containing records whose special significance nobody has yet assessed.
Also determine the goal: should daily searching become easier, should vouchers be centrally accessible or should the paper filing system be replaced? A digital working copy is quickly useful while the decision on the original is still open. Record this difference. Before the first large batch, also decide who captures, who checks and who confirms the filing. For confidential content, Art. 8 of the Data Protection Act (DSG), paras. 1–2 applies: controllers ensure, through suitable technical and organisational measures, data security appropriate to the risk. Selecting the authorised people is part of the preparation.
Capture scans completely and legibly
Prepare the paper so that no page is overlooked. Remove staples, put related sheets in order and label multi-page documents clearly. Check the back pages too: an apparently blank page may carry a note or stamp that is important for understanding the business transaction.
Neither Art. 957a and 958f CO nor the GeBüV states a statutory minimum resolution. What applies is the standard of Art. 958f CO, para. 3: retention must ensure correspondence with the underlying business transactions, and the documents must be capable of being made readable again at any time. On screen, therefore, check whether small print, coloured markings and faint thermal prints are fully preserved. Check page count, order and margins; skewed pages and cut-off amounts make information unusable. In the introductory phase, have a second person go through part of the stock to find recurring errors before the procedure is applied to large volumes. This is an organisational recommendation, not a statutory requirement.
Using text recognition as an aid
Text recognition (OCR) makes the content of an image scan searchable and can suggest details for filing. But a recognised word is not automatically correct. Similar-looking characters, unusual names or badly printed amounts need a look. Distinguish, therefore, between the image of the voucher, the recognised text and the confirmed details for filing. The image may be fully legible while text recognition takes over an amount incorrectly. In that case correct the detail, not the voucher.
For recurring vouchers, automatic assignment can make sense if you check it at first. Check company, document type and financial year: even flawless text recognition leads to wrong filing if the rule does not fit the document. For invoices in particular, see Digitising incoming invoices.
What the law says about destroying originals
The short answer: neither the Code of Obligations nor the GeBüV nor the VAT Ordinance contains an express rule that permits or prohibits destroying paper vouchers after scanning. Admissibility follows from the rules on the form of retention:
- Form (Art. 958f CO, para. 3): Accounting records and vouchers may be retained on paper, electronically or in a comparable way, provided correspondence with the business transactions is ensured and they can be made readable again at any time. For VAT vouchers, Art. 122 of the VAT Ordinance (MWSTV) refers to Art. 957–958f CO and the GeBüV.
- Requirements (GeBüV): Changes must be detectable (Art. 3), the procedure must be documented (Art. 4), and records must be retained carefully and kept available for inspection within a reasonable time (Art. 5 and 6). On an alterable data carrier, Art. 9, para. 1 let. b additionally requires that integrity is technically ensured, the storage time can be proved without falsification, further rules on these procedures are complied with, the workflows are documented and the logs are retained. Art. 10 requires regular checks and, in a migration, a log.
- FTA practice: According to the FTA’s questions and answers on electronic business transactions, a paper invoice, a scanned paper invoice and an electronic invoice are treated alike, because the principles of proper bookkeeping apply to all vouchers. In VAT Info 16 (no. 1.4.1, as from 5 January 2024) it states that electronic vouchers are accepted as evidence if these principles and all the requirements of the GeBüV are met. As an example, the FTA mentions a company that scans supplier invoices on receipt, checks them digitally and destroys the originals. It also states, however: the company with the retention obligation bears the risks associated with destroying the original information carrier.
- Exception in the law: The annual report and the audit report must be retained in writing and signed under Art. 958f CO, para. 2. The relief in para. 3 mentions only accounting records and vouchers.
Rules outside bookkeeping, such as those for deeds or securities, are not covered here. Keep such originals until a specialist has answered the question.
Deciding before destruction
Decide deliberately which types of records come into question at all: vouchers more likely, the annual report and the audit report not. Simply ticking “scan available” checks neither completeness nor the archiving procedure. The decision to destroy should be a separate checking step: the scan is complete, legible and correctly assigned, the recognised amounts are checked, the retention procedure meets the requirements of the GeBüV, and the approval is recorded. Anyone who cannot prove the procedure keeps the paper vouchers until the retention period expires and so does not bear the risk of destruction named by the FTA. On the basics of bookkeeping, see the guide Bookkeeping obligations for SMEs.
Practical example: checking a batch of invoices
The fictional service company Kieselblick AG digitises 36 supplier invoices from September 2026. Of these, 28 have one page and 8 have two pages, so 28 + 8 × 2 = 44 pages are expected. The first check shows 43 pages: all 36 invoice files are present, but the back page of one invoice is missing. The mere number of files would not have revealed the error.
The responsible person rescans the affected invoice completely, checks the order and arrives at the expected 44 pages. In addition, an incorrectly recognised total amount stands out in the filing fields. They correct the detail using the visible voucher and record the check. The team then confirms company, document type and financial year.
The originals first stay in a designated storage area. Only when management has confirmed with the fiduciary that the archiving procedure meets the requirements of the GeBüV does it decide on destroying the paper invoices. The retention period does not change as a result: financial year 2026 ends on 31 December 2026, and the ten years under Art. 958f CO, para. 1 run until 31 December 2036, whether as paper or as a file.
Checklist from paper to digital record
- Record types and special originals separated
- Responsibility for capture and checking determined
- Fronts, back pages and enclosures captured completely, page count reconciled
- Order, margins and legibility checked on screen
- Recognised amounts and other important details checked
- Company, document type and financial year confirmed
- Archiving procedure under the GeBüV clarified and documented (Art. 3, 4, 9)
- Annual report and audit report not replaced, but retained in writing and signed
- Originals kept in order until a separate, recorded decision
- Regular check of integrity and legibility planned, migrations logged (Art. 10)
How KMU | base helps
In Docu | base you work in the “Docu | base” area with the “Inbox” menu item.
Upload and file directly. Uploaded files appear in the Inbox straight away, with the status of text recognition. You can already file them by hand with details during recognition or after an error; the full text is added later, and confirmed details are kept. For document types that are archived immediately (such as incoming invoices and vouchers), the button reads “Archive and continue”: the document is then archived unalterably straight away; check the company and details beforehand. Details (fields, document type, company, folder) can be corrected later with a mandatory reason; the file and versions remain unchanged.
Other ways in. Besides upload, documents arrive through a folder’s scan address, through the “Eingang” folder on the drive (scan to folder) and through scanning with the app. The camera scan interface takes multi-page scans from the app into the Inbox as one PDF, with a type suggestion. Test the quality of camera shots with a trial batch before introduction.
Separate and straighten batch scans. On the “Inbox rules” page (in the setup checklist under “Set up intake rules”) you set that separator sheets with a QR code and blank pages split a batch scan into individual documents and that skewed scans are straightened. You print the separator sheet there. Important: this applies to scans from the app, from the drive and through a folder’s scan address, not to upload in the browser; a combined file uploaded there is not split. Only people with the right to manage document types, filing rules and views manage the rules.
Local text recognition. Scanned pages are read in German, French, Italian and English on the servers of KMU | base, without data leaving them. The Inbox shows whether the text is being recognised, was recognised or was not legible; in that case you add the details by hand, and the original file remains available under “View file”.
The product has limits. These Inbox functions do not give rise to a legal confirmation of your archiving procedure or to an approval to destroy your paper originals. The daily time stamp (RFC 3161), which would help to prove the storage time under Art. 9 GeBüV, is listed in the function catalogue as planned, as is an automatically generated PDF/A version alongside the original. Clarify with your fiduciary, therefore, whether your entire procedure is sufficient before you destroy originals.
The Docu | base user guide explains how to operate it. Take a look at the Demo or open a test account. If you have questions, we will be happy to help through the Contact page.
Sources
- Code of Obligations (OR, SR 220), Art. 957a, para. 3 and Art. 958f, paras. 1–3, as at 1 October 2026: fedlex.admin.ch (German original), accessed on 27.10.2026.
- Ordinance on Accounting Records (GeBüV, SR 221.431), Art. 3–6 and Art. 9–10, as at 1 January 2013: fedlex.admin.ch (German original), accessed on 27.10.2026.
- VAT Ordinance (MWSTV, SR 641.201), Art. 122, as at 1 January 2025: fedlex.admin.ch (German original), accessed on 27.10.2026.
- FTA: VAT Info 16 Accounting and invoicing, no. 1.4.1 Form of retention (in German), as from 5 January 2024, accessed on 27.10.2026.
- FTA: Questions and answers (in German), section “Questions & answers on electronic business transactions”, accessed on 27.10.2026.
- Data Protection Act (DSG, SR 235.1), Art. 8, paras. 1–2, as at 7 July 2025: fedlex.admin.ch (German original), accessed on 27.10.2026.
This guide does not replace legal or tax advice. Information as at 27.10.2026.