Formally the business is closed, but the obligations outlive it. This step is about what may not be thrown away and what keeps taking money if forgotten.
Loose ends: record keeping, accounts and a possible restart
Retention duties run on for years after closure. Alongside them sit small items that keep taking money: subscriptions, domains, the business account.
✓ Verified: 02/08/2026
WHAT TO DO
DOCUMENTS 3
› Details and tips
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Lea recommends:
Put the documents in one box by year and label it with the date before which nothing may be thrown away. After six years nobody remembers what is inside, and audits land precisely on those who kept nothing.
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Max recommends:
I closed the account right after deregistering. A month later a tax refund arrived with nowhere to land, and sorting it out took longer than the entire closure.
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
How long must records be kept after closing? ▾
The periods differ by type of document: ten years for books, annual accounts and similar records, eight years for accounting vouchers, and six years for other documents relevant to taxation. Closing the business does not shorten them.
Can the business account be closed straight away? ▾
Not straight away. Final client payments, refunds and tax payments may still run through it, and the statements are needed for the closing declarations. It is wiser to close it once the final return has been filed and processed.
What happens to outstanding client invoices? ▾
They do not vanish with deregistration: the claim belongs to the person after cessation too. Enforcing it simply gets harder afterwards, which is why open items belong settled before filing the notice.
Can I start a business again later? ▾
Yes, registering again is unrestricted and follows the ordinary procedure. For tax purposes, though, the restart counts as a new business, and the earlier cessation profit and the once-used allowance stay in the past.