Does your office tend to look like our Fayette county landfill with tons of old paperwork?
Although there is no single statute of limitations for the many categories of records a business needs
to retain, we can offer some guidelines.
Here’s our suggested schedule for record retention.
In the case of special circumstances, legal action(s), or unique contractual disputes,
you may need to hang onto the documents a bit longer.
| Accident reports and claims (settled cases) | 7 years |
| Accounts payable ledgers and schedules | 7 years |
| Accounts receivable ledgers and schedules | 7 years |
| Audit reports of accountants | Indefinitely |
| Bank reconciliations | 1 year |
| Bank statements | 7 years |
| Cash books | Indefinitely |
| Charts of accounts | Indefinitely |
| Checks (canceled, see exceptions below) | 7 years |
| Checks (canceled for important payments, i.e., taxes, purchases of property, special contracts, etc.) | Indefinitely |
| Construction documents | Indefinitely |
| Contracts and leases (expired) | 7 years |
| Contracts and leases still in effect | Expiration + 7 years |
| Correspondence (general) | 3 years |
| Correspondence (important) | Indefinitely |
| Deeds, mortgages, bills of sale, titles | Indefinitely |
| Depreciation schedules | Indefinitely |
| Duplicate deposit slips | 1 year |
| Electronic fund transfer documents | 7 years |
| Employee personnel records (after termination) | 7 years |
| Employment applications | 3 years |
| Expense analyses and expense distribution schedules | 7 years |
| Financial statements (end-of-year, other months optional) | Indefinitely |
| General and private ledgers (and end-of-year trial balance) | Indefinitely |
| I-9s (after termination) | 3 yrs after hire or 1 year after termination, whichever is later |
| Insurance policies (expired) | 3 years |
| Inventories of products, materials, supplies | 7 years |
| Invoices to customers | 7 years |
| Invoices from vendors | 7 years |
| Journals | Indefinitely |
| Leases | see Contracts |
| Licenses | Indefinitely |
| Loan documents, notes | Indefinitely |
| Minute books of directors and stockholders, including by-laws and charter | Indefinitely |
| Notes receivable ledgers and schedules | 7 years |
| OSHA logs | 5 years |
| Payroll records and summaries, pensions, payroll taxes | 7 years |
| Petty cash vouchers | 3 years |
| Property appraisals by outside appraisers | Indefinitely |
| Property records including costs, depreciation reserves, end-of-year trial balances, depreciation schedules, blueprints and plans | Indefinitely |
| Purchase orders (purchasing department copy) | 7 years |
| Receiving sheets | 1 year |
| Sales records | 7 years |
| Scrap and salvage records (inventories, sales, etc.) | 7 years |
| Subsidiary ledgers | 7 years |
| Tax returns and worksheets, agents’ reports, any documents relating to income tax liability | Indefinitely |
| Time books/cards | 7 years |
| Trade mark registrations | Indefinitely |
| Voucher register and schedules | 7 years |
| Vouchers for payments to vendors, employees, etc. (including allowances and reimbursement of employees officers, etc., for travel and entertainment expenses) | 7 years |
| W-4 forms | 4 years |
| Workers’ comp. documents | 11 years |
We’ve known for some time of the IRS’ stated intent to educate at least one member of every audit team with advanced knowledge of Quickbooks and Peachtree Accounting. Given that these two programs have over 80% of the small business software market, one could understand this goal.