Which records should an electrician keep after a job, and for how long?

After every job, an electrician keeps a fixed set of records: the order, the job sheet, the test report, the circuit chart, the installation diagram, photos and the invoice. For the Tax and Customs Administration a retention period of 7 years applies. But a customer can hold you to account for a defect for up to 10 years after completion, and up to 20 years if your work is part of a building.

So keep the technical records for longer than the tax authority requires. After a fire they are often the only evidence of the state in which you left the installation.

In this article

1. How long must you keep your records for the Tax and Customs Administration?
2. Which records belong with a job?
3. What does a good test report contain?
4. How long can a customer hold you liable?
5. Is an electrical installation a building?
6. Why does the test report matter after a fire?
7. May you keep everything digitally?

How long must you keep your records for the Tax and Customs Administration?

Seven years. That is laid down in article 52 of the General Tax Act. The obligation applies to the books and all documents of your business, on paper and digital. Think of quotes, invoices, wholesaler receipts, job sheets and bank statements.

The 7 years only starts once a record is no longer current (Tax and Customs Administration). So you keep a contract that runs for four years for four years plus seven years. You always keep your core records, such as the general ledger, receivables and payables and the purchase and sales records, for 7 years. You cannot agree a shorter period for these.

For records about immovable property the Tax and Customs Administration states 10 years. Under article 34a of the VAT Act this concerns immovable property that the business owner has started using himself, such as your own business premises or workshop. Work on a customer's home does not fall under this. For those invoices the normal 7 years applies for tax purposes.

Which records belong with a job?

Create a fixed folder for each job, under the customer's name and address. It holds six kinds of documents, each with its own purpose. The tax authority mainly looks at the job sheet and the invoice. In a complaint or after a fire, what matters is the test report, the circuit chart, the diagram and the photos.

The circuit chart is the list in the consumer unit that states which circuit supplies which room or appliance. The installation diagram shows how the installation is built up. A recognised installation firm checks at completion whether diagrams are present and whether circuits and protective devices are labelled (InstallQ, recognition scheme for low-voltage installations). For installations at a workplace the Working Conditions Decree, article 3.4 requires clear, up-to-date diagrams. This does not apply to small low-voltage installations.

Photos of the consumer unit before and after the work cost nothing and say a lot. They show what was already there and what you changed. If you install solar panels at 0% VAT, one condition is that the panels are placed on or near a home (Tax and Customs Administration). A photo and the address in the job folder help to show that later.

What does a good test report contain?

The measured values, with who measured when and with which instrument. For a recognised installation firm it is set out precisely in the InstallQ scheme. For new installation work that requires a permit, you record the inspection in an inspection and handover report. It contains the results, the measuring equipment used, the name of who inspected and when, the shortcomings found and how you resolved them (InstallQ, recognition scheme for low-voltage installations).

The customer receives a completed and signed copy. After maintenance, too, a recognised firm always provides a signed inspection report. Measuring instruments whose outcome decides whether you approve or reject the work must be calibrated (InstallQ, recognition scheme for low-voltage installations). Calibrated means that an accredited party has established that the instrument measures correctly.

For new work that requires a permit, a recognised firm also keeps a project file, with the order, the design and the inspections. You keep that file for at least 10 years (InstallQ, recognition scheme for low-voltage installations). For smaller jobs this is not a requirement of the scheme, but the same approach protects you just as well.

How long can a customer hold you liable?

After a complaint you face a 2-year period. A claim for a defect in completed work expires two years after the customer has complained about it (article 7:761 of the Civil Code). Expiry means that the customer can no longer enforce his right in court.

There is also a fixed end date. A claim expires in any event 20 years after completion for construction of buildings, and 10 years after completion in all other cases (article 7:761 of the Civil Code). For a building you are also liable for defects that were not discovered at completion, unless they cannot be attributed to you (article 7:758 of the Civil Code).

If you sell and install a charge point or home battery for a private customer, the rules for sale also apply. A consumer who reports a fault within two months of discovering it is in time. His claim expires two years after that notification (article 7:23 of the Civil Code). So also keep the date and content of every complaint.

Is an electrical installation a building?

It can be, but the law does not say so precisely. Article 7:761 of the Civil Code refers to the construction of buildings, without saying whether an electrical installation falls under it. There is no official explanation for electrical work.

A complete installation in a new home can be part of the building. A single repair or a new socket probably is not. In between lies a grey area, for example a new consumer unit or a fixed charge point. The installation must, however, always comply with NEN 1010, the standard for low-voltage installations, because the Buildings Decree refers to it (Bbl, articles 3.106 and 4.199).

Because it is uncertain, the safe choice is to keep the test report, the diagram and the photos of larger jobs for 20 years. Digitally that costs almost nothing. If you throw them away after 7 years, you have nothing to show for a claim in year 12.

Why does the test report matter after a fire?

Because the customer's insurer can hold you liable. If the insurer pays for the fire damage, the customer's right to compensation from you passes to the insurer (article 7:962 of the Civil Code). This is called subrogation. The insurer then investigates where the fire started and who last worked on the installation.

A fault can lead to a fire only months later. In laboratory tests with 408 American sockets with various connections, a small share of the sockets with loose connections overheated to the point of failure, sometimes with flames. This happened between 5 and 365 days after the start of the test (Benfer & Gottuk, 2014). Only very loose connections at a current of 9 amps or more caused clear overheating.

The same study showed that traces of an overheated connection remain visible after a fire (Benfer & Gottuk, 2014). So a fire investigator can sometimes see whether the cause lay at a connection. Your test report and photos show the state in which you handed over the installation. Be honest about the limit: an insulation or loop impedance test does not reveal every loose terminal. Photos of the finished unit add to that.

May you keep everything digitally?

Yes. You may convert paper documents into digital form, provided the conversion is accurate and complete. The data must be available for the whole retention period and can be made readable within a reasonable time (article 52(5) of the General Tax Act). Only a balance sheet and profit and loss account drawn up on paper must be kept on paper.

Readable also means in twenty years' time. So save test reports as PDF, and not only in the native file format of your tester or app. Use the same folder name for each job, for example year, postcode, house number and customer name. Make a backup in a second location, separate from your laptop and your phone.

If you use an app that stores job sheets and photos in the cloud, check that you can export everything. If the supplier stops or you cancel the subscription, your records must still be available for the full period (article 52 of the General Tax Act).

Sources

• General Tax Act (Algemene wet inzake rijksbelastingen), article 52, in force from 1 October 2026. wetten.overheid.nl
• Tax and Customs Administration, keeping your records. belastingdienst.nl
• VAT Act 1968 (Wet op de omzetbelasting 1968), article 34a, in force from 1 January 2026. wetten.overheid.nl
• InstallQ, recognition scheme for low-voltage installations, adopted 26 September 2019, articles 3.2, 5.4.2, 5.6.2, 5.7 and annex 3. installq.nl
• Working Conditions Decree, article 3.4, in force from 1 August 2026. wetten.overheid.nl
• Tax and Customs Administration, VAT rate for solar panels. belastingdienst.nl
• Civil Code Book 7, articles 23, 758, 761 and 962, in force from 8 October 2026. wetten.overheid.nl
• Buildings Decree (Besluit bouwwerken leefomgeving), articles 3.106 and 4.199, in force from 24 September 2026. wetten.overheid.nl
• Benfer, M. & Gottuk, D.T. (2014). Electrical receptacles: overheating, arcing, and melting. Fire Safety Science, 11, 1010 to 1023. doi.org/10.3801/IAFSS.FSS.11-1010