The Delivvo Blog

Guides|July 17, 2026

How long should freelancers keep client files and records?

Tax law tells you to keep it for years. Privacy law tells you to delete it when you are done. Both are real, and they are not talking about the same thing.

Two rules govern how long you hold a client's material, and they appear to contradict each other: tax authorities want records kept for years, while privacy law says delete personal data once the purpose is finished. Most freelancers resolve this by keeping everything forever in one folder. That satisfies one rule, breaks the other, and quietly builds a liability. Here is the split that makes both rules easy to follow.