Vintro Pro
NL · FR · EN
Vintro Pro
NL · FR · EN
Four countries, four periods. This is the figure you need most often and that sits nowhere side by side.
In Belgium seven years for your VAT records — brought back from ten to seven by the law of 18 December 2025. In the Netherlands seven years. In France ten years in practice: invoices and an electronic register ten years, a paper livre de police five years after it is closed. In the UK six years (VATA 1994 Sch. 11 para 6(3)). For a piece that stays in stock longer, HMRC advises keeping the purchase records until it is sold: without them, no margin.
The period does not start at the same moment everywhere either. In France the period for invoices runs from the end of the financial year, the one for a paper register from the closing of that register, and the one for an electronic register from each entry.
When the period starts
France
At the closinginvoices: of the financial year; a paper register: of that register; an electronic register: from each entryVAT records; brought back from ten to seven years by the law of 18 December 2025
AWR art. 52(4)
invoices and electronic register; a paper register 5 years after closing
VATA 1994 Sch. 11 para 6(3); HMRC advises keeping the purchase records until the piece is sold
The row disappears once the piece is soldThat is exactly when you need it. Without the purchase price you can no longer prove your margin.
The photo lives somewhere elseA purchase note in a folder and a photo on your phone are not a file together. In an inspection you have to assemble two things.
You use your own country's periodActive in two countries, keep the strictest version from the start. Adding data to a piece you already sold is not possible.
No. The temptation to delete a row as soon as something sells is strong, but that is precisely the moment you need it: the purchase price and date are your evidence for the margin, so keep them until well after the sale. In the UK six years, in Belgium seven; in France ten years for an electronic register, from each entry (R321-6-1), and five years for a paper register, from its closing (R321-6).
In Belgium: a purchase register listing every item you want to sell under the margin scheme, a sales register for what goes out, and a comparison register tying purchase and sale together. Together they make the profit margin ascertainable — which is exactly the amount you pay VAT on. According to the Belgian FPS Finance, without proof of the purchase price the margin cannot be established, and the full selling price is taxed.
Vintro Pro keeps, per piece, what you paid, when, and where it came from. Your stock list and your margin VAT build themselves while you work.
30 days free, no card number.