Commonly requested resources
Record Retention Recommendations
According to Internal Revenue Service requirements, records should be retained so long as their contents, “may become material in the administration of any Internal Revenue Law.” Various factors enter into the length of time that particular records should be held for this purpose, due to varying statutes of limitations and to the special nature of certain items. In the absence of specific Revenue Service guidelines, we are offering our recommendations below as to the length of time that records should be retained.
Keep Permanently:
- Capital stock books
- Articles of partnership, incorporation and any papers relating to the business organization
- Corporate minute books
- Annual financial statements
- All tax returns
- Audit reports and reports to stockholders
- General ledger records
- Documents relating to long-lived assets; i.e., deeds, mortgages, abstracts, maps, plant ledgers, etc.
- Cancelled promissory notes (ten years after due date), cancelled checks (or bank record of wire transaction) used to pay and correspondence about promissory notes
- Written contracts and cancelled checks (or bank record of wire transaction) used in the extinguishment of obligations under a written contract
- Any written legal document not otherwise covered in this schedule
- Insurance policies and records
Keep for Five Years *:
- Accounts receivable ledger records
- Accounts or voucher payable ledger records
- Auto Mileage Logs
- Bank statements
- Bank Deposit Slips
- Daily Sales Records
- Depreciation Schedules
- Detailed records pertaining to inventories
- Records relating to payroll payments.
- Employee Time Cards
- Expense Reports
- Inventory Records
- Invoices, etc., supporting payments made
- Invoices, etc., supporting billings made
Other:
- Employee Records — Period of employment, plus 3 years