Accounting records and commercial books shall include the records of the following:
• Payments and receipts;
• Purchases and sales;
• Revenues and expenditures;
• Any other record as required by Tax Law or any other applicable law including balance sheet and profit & loss accounts, records of wages and salaries, records of fixed assets, inventory records and statements including records of stock counts.

It shall also include all documents supporting the entries in the accounting records and commercial books including
• Correspondence, invoices, licences and contracts related to the Business;
• Documents containing details of any election, assessment, determination or calculation made by a Taxpayer in relation to the Tax affairs of its Business, including the basis, or method thereof.

All accounting records, commercial books and information shall be retained and maintained for the following periods:
• 5 years following the Tax Period to which they relate in case of Taxable Person;
• 5 years from the end of calendar year in which the documents were created in respect of all persons other than Taxable Person;
• 7 years from the end of calendar year in which the documents were created for real estate records.
In addition to the above, the person shall retain the books and records for following additional periods, in following cases:
• In case of dispute with Authority – 4 years or until the dispute is settled, whichever is later
• 4 years in case a person is subject to Tax Audit or the Authority notifies its intention to conduct a Tax Audit
• 1 year in case of submission of Voluntary Disclosure in the 5th year from the end of relevant Tax Period.
Also, Legal Representative shall retain the books and records of the Person he is representing for a period of 1 year from the date on which such legal representation expires.

Creating record and retaining the original documents, or
Creating record and retaining the information contained in the original documents, provided that the following is met:
• The information contained is identical to the data in the original document and shall be available for the period for which records are to be kept.
• The information is retained or stored in either photocopy or electronic copy, and should be easily readable
• The information is retained or stored in a manner that enables the Authority to verify the Person’s Tax obligations.

The records may be kept in English and the Authority may, at its discretion, request the Person to translate some or all of them into Arabic.
The translation into Arabic must be approved in accordance with the law regulating translation in the State.