Article 211 of Morocco’s 2026 General Tax Code requires covered taxpayers and withholding persons to keep invoice or receipt duplicates, supporting evidence and accounting records needed for audit for ten years at the place where they are taxed. For the cited electronic-accounting cases, it provides electronic support. A Downloads folder full of PDFs is still not a dependable archive without integrity, indexing, rights, backups and tested retrieval.
The rule and method
- The general tax duration stated in Article 211 is ten years.
- It notably covers invoices, receipts, expenses, investments, books and customer or supplier records.
- Working copies help daily use; backups recover operations; archives preserve and return evidence.
- Retain PDF, structured data, credit-note relationships and channel receipts as applicable.
- Test restore on another workstation regularly.
- Document and notify loss within the Article 211 process and deadlines.
1. What Article 211 says
It lists sales-invoice or receipt duplicates, evidence for expenses and investments, transaction books, general ledger, inventory book, detailed inventories, journal, customer and supplier records and other documents required by law. That is why archiving sales PDFs alone cannot reconstruct accounting.
| Item | Why retain | Link to preserve |
|---|---|---|
| Invoice or receipt | Delivered document and operation | Sale, customer, payment |
| Credit note | Post-issue correction | Original invoice and reason |
| Structured XML | Processable exported data | Number, hash, profile |
| Purchase evidence | Expense or investment | Supplier and payment |
| Journal and ledger | Accounting entries | Source document |
| Receipt | External receipt or filing | Relevant file and period |
Ten years is a general tax rule, but other law, contracts, litigation or sectors may require more. Confirm the start date and destruction rule with your accountant or adviser. Do not auto-delete a year because its folder name looks old.
2. Copy, backup and archive: three jobs
One invoice may exist in all three spaces for different reasons.
- Working copy: Team access for search, resend and reconciliation. It may be replaced and must not be the sole copy.
- Backup: Technical recovery after failure, deletion or disaster. It must cover database, files, settings and needed keys.
- Archive: Organized, modification-protected set that can be returned with context, index and trail.
- External evidence: Receipt, message or docket retained with the item or package reference.
Synchronization is not necessarily backup: deletion or ransomware may propagate. A disconnected drive never tested may be unreadable. Use several media, including one separate from the workstation and one protected from ordinary modification.
For electronic invoices, keep readable view, original structured file, fingerprint or manifest, state and channel response. The XML and ZIP export guide shows how to bundle them by period.
3. Build an archive in eight steps
The best archive can be retrieved by another authorized person without guessing your desk.
- Inventory sales, purchases, documents, journals, customers, suppliers, payments, XML and receipts.
- Define stable names without ambiguous accents or multiple final versions.
- Classify by company, establishment, year, type and series.
- Preserve relationships among invoice, credit note, sale, payment and filing.
- Restrict write and deletion; log exports and restores.
- Back up to at least two media separate from production.
- Encrypt transported copies and manage recovery secrets separately.
- Quarterly, restore a sample and find an invoice by number, date, customer and amount.
| Test | Expected result | Failure reveals |
|---|---|---|
| Search by number | One item and its links | Duplicates or no index |
| Open PDF | Readable document | Corruption or missing font |
| XML hash | Matching fingerprint | Wrong copy or change |
| Database restore | History and settings present | Partial backup |
| Rights | Cashier cannot delete archive | Excess permissions |
| Receipt | Reference connected to package | Filing hard to prove |
Record recovery time, not merely success. A database recoverable in four days does not reopen tomorrow’s till. Decide what must return within an hour, day and week.
A backup never restored is an assumption
Backup successful often means a file was written, not that it is complete, readable and compatible. A restore test in a separate environment is the practical end-to-end check.
4. Lost records: do not improvise
Article 211 provides that, whatever the cause, the taxpayer informs the competent inspector by registered letter with acknowledgment within fifteen days after discovering loss, extended to thirty days for force majeure. Confirm procedure and file content with your adviser for your facts.
First isolate the incident: hardware failure, deletion, ransomware, theft, fire or corruption. Do not silently rewrite history. Record discovery time, affected periods and types, available backups, actions and informed people.
Restore into a separate space, verify hashes, reconcile series and keep intervention logs. If documents are reconstructed from customer or supplier copies, mark provenance and do not present them as original bytes.
5. BelloPOS: local storage and backup responsibility
BelloPOS stores the shop database on its own device and BelloCommerce has no remote access. Go adds backups; the business chooses storage, protection and restore tests. The electronic-invoicing outbox keeps XML and SHA-256 locally and exports period packages.
| Need | BelloPOS help | You organize |
|---|---|---|
| Search | Local history and numbers | Index and rights |
| Structured invoice | Sealed UBL and hash | Separate copies |
| Period export | ZIP and manifest | Naming and hand-off |
| Backup | Go/Pro feature | Media, frequency and restore |
| Legal retention | Available data | Adviser-approved ten-year policy |
Archive must not depend on one license, PC or employee’s memory. Retain open formats and reading documentation. Check current functions and prices on the Lite, Go and Pro page.
Mistakes to avoid
- Keeping everything only in Downloads.
- Confusing sync with independent backup.
- Backing up database without documents or settings.
- Never testing restore.
- Allowing every account to delete history.
- Separating credit note from invoice.
- Forgetting manifests and receipts.
- Waiting beyond deadlines before reporting loss.
Frequently asked questions
How long are invoices kept in Morocco?
CGI 2026 Article 211 provides ten years for the covered taxpayers and records. Confirm starting point and additional rules for your business.
Is PDF enough for an archive?
Not always. It is readable, but structured data, relationships, journals and receipts may also be needed.
Can everything remain on the till PC?
That creates a single point of failure. Keep several separate, protected and tested copies.
What is a restore test?
Recover a backup into a separate environment and verify database, files, links, users, numbers and search without touching production.
What if records are lost?
Secure the incident, document scope, contact your adviser and follow Article 211 notification within the applicable period.
Can BelloCommerce recover my BelloPOS database?
No. BelloPOS runs locally and BelloCommerce cannot access installation data. Backup policy belongs to the business.
What to take away
Ten years is not a folder forgotten for a decade. It is a maintained chain: complete items, relationships, integrity, separate copies, rights, tests and loss procedure. An archive earns its value when an authorized person quickly returns the right document and trail.
Sources
The figures and rules quoted above come from these pages, read on the date given in the article.
- Moroccan General Tax Code 2026, DGI, read 29 August 2026
- BelloPOS electronic invoicing and UBL export, read 29 August 2026
- BelloCommerce privacy policy, BelloPOS local storage, read 29 August 2026
Test your archive before you need it
Export one BelloPOS month, back up database and files to separate media, then ask another authorized person to recover an invoice, its XML and credit note.
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