BANKRUPTCY FILES – STORAGE AND ARCHIVING

During and after a bankruptcy, the question arises for both the bankruptcy administration and the company: Where to put the files because the retention period for the documents and files does not cease to apply after bankruptcy or liquidation. Those responsible must continue to take care of the legally binding preservation and storage of the remaining files.
As a professional archiving service provider, Rhenus Archiv Services would like to accompany you on this journey. Both the storage of the bankruptcy estate and other documents form the company, such as the personnel files - we take care of professional and secure archiving throughout Germany and Europe. Our high-sercurity archives offer sufficient capacity and a high level of protection for your records.

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The information on this page has been compiled to the best of our knowledge and belief and does not claim to be complete. This information is in no way a substitute for legal or tax advice.

THE STORAGE AND ARCHIVING OF THE BANKRUPTCY ESTATE

We support bankruptcy administrators in archiving bankruptcy files because after bankruptcy, the business documents must continue to be preserved in accordance with the statutory retention periods in accordance with HGB §257. §157. But what exactly does a bankruptcy administrator have to keep? 

• List of assets
• Balance sheets
• Scope of the list of creditors
• All correspondence and much more

This can mean a large amount of documents and files, so secure and monitored access to these files cannot always be guaranteed.
Therefore, we recommend bankruptcy administrators to use our service in external file archiving. Thanks to our many years of expertise and experience, we securely archive the entire bankruptcy estate of your clients as well as their remaining documents and files in our high-security archives.

If you need to provide information about the files stored with us at a later date or if you need them yourself, our courier drivers will deliver the files to you or we will make them available to you through our Scan-on-Demand Service. With the Scan-on-Demand Service, you can now view the documents easily, conveniently and securly with your own customer login in our Business Networing Platform.

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HOW LONG DO BANKRUPTCY FILES HAVE TO BE KEPT?

The following documents have a retention period of six years in bankruptcy proceedings:

• Received commercial letters
• Copies of sent commercial letters
• Commercial papers
• Documents with commercial and tax significance

The following documents have a retention period of ten years:

• Booking documents
• Inventories
• Balance sheet
• Annual accounts
• Financial statements
• Reports
• Consolidated financial statements and management reports
• Work instructions required for understanding
• Other organizational documents and accounting documents

However, even after the retention period has expired, documents must be retained if they are relevant to certain circumstances, such as an external audit, a provisional tax assessment or a pending investigation. The retention period always begins at the end of the year in which the last entry in the books was made. If the documents are still needed, we have the necessary capacities as an archiving service provider and, if necessary, take over the archiving of your documents even after the retention period has expired.

The company's books are part of the bankruptcy estate during the proceedings. As soon as the proceedings have been terminated, the power of disposal goes back to the debtor, who is generally obliged to take it back. The bankruptcy administrator shall, if agreed upon, ensure that the accounting books are taken into custody by the person designated by the articles of association or by the resolution of the association.

The amount of bankruptcy documents left behind can be large and pose problems for companies: With the help of a competent partner, such as the archiving service provider Rhenus Archiv Services, archiving is not a major effort. If desired, the documents can be picked up directly from your site and then stored in our high-security archives.

THE ADVANTAGES OF EXTERNAL ARCHIVING OF THE BANKRUPTCY ESTATE

• Unlimited storage options
• Storage in high-security archives (protected from unauthorized access, water, ...)
• Locations throughout Germany
• Quick access to stored documents
• Observation of the retention periods of the service provider

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Due to the statutory retention periods, those responsible are still obliged to securely store tax-relevant documents even after the cessation of business activities. However, the business premises are no longer available for the documents, which must be kept for another 10 years.
That's why Rhenus Archiv Services looks after you as a competent partner in archiving the remaining documents.

We ensure that the transport of your business documents to our high-security archives runs smoothly. Even after document archiving, you can continue to access your documents quickly and easily – with our scan-on-demand service. We scan the documents you need and make them available via our web-based Business Networking Platform. If you do need several folders or boxes, our courier drivers will deliver the requested documents to you and then safely back to the archive.

WHAT DOCUMENTS NEED TO BE KEPT?

• Booking documents
• Annual accounts
• Financial statements
• Management reports
• Consolidated financial statements and management reports
• Work instructions to understand the above documents
• Further organizational documents
• Commercial letters (both received and sent in copy)
• Booking receipts
• And many other documents

If documents are important for the taxation procedure, all other related documents must also be retained in addition to the tax documents.
Since this involves a lot of paper and the in-house cellar does not offer enough capacity, you should entrust your documents to Rhenus Archiv Services, an experienced and competent archiving service provider. In Rhenus' own security archives, the documents to be stored can be archived for as long as needed.

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