Business Documents to Keep For One Year

  • Correspondence with customers and vendors
  • Duplicate deposit slips
  • Purchase orders (other than purchasing department copy)
  • Receiving sheets
  • Requisitions
  • Stenographer's notebooks
  • Stockroom withdrawal forms

    •       Business Documents to Keep For Three Years

  • Employee Personnel Records (after termination)
  • Employment Applications
  • Expired Insurance Policies
  • General Correspondence
  • Internal Audit Reports
  • Internal Reports
  • Petty Cash Vouchers
  • Physical Inventory Tags
  • Savings Bond Registration Records of Employees
  • Time Cards For Hourly Employees

    •       Business Documents to Keep For Seven Years

  • Accident reports and claims
  • Accounts payable ledgers and schedules
  • Accounts receivable ledgers and schedules
  • Bank statements and reconciliations
  • Cancelled checks
  • Cancelled stock and bond certificates
  • Employment tax records
  • Expense analysis and expense distribution schedules
  • Expired contracts, leases
  • Expired option records
  • Inventories of products, materials, supplies
  • Invoices to customers
  • Notes receivable ledgers, schedules
  • Payroll records & summaries, including payment to pensioners
  • Plant cost ledgers
  • Purchasing department copies of purchase orders
  • Sales records
  • Subsidiary ledgers
  • Time books
  • Travel and entertainment eecords
  • Vouchers for payments to vendors, employees, etc.
  • Voucher register, schedules
  • Records related to bad debt deduction/loss for worthless securities

    •       Business Documents to Keep Forever

    While federal guidelines do not require you to keep tax records
    "forever," in many cases there will be other reasons you'll want
    to retain these documents indefinitely.

  • CPA Audit records
  • Cancelled checks for important payments (especially tax pmts)
  • Cash books, charts of accounts
  • Contracts, leases currently in effect
  • Corporate documents (incorporation, charter, by-laws, etc.)
  • Documents substantiating fixed asset additions
  • Deeds
  • Depreciation schedules
  • Financial statements (Year End)
  • General and private ledgers, year end trial balances
  • Insurance records, current accident reports, claims, policies
  • Investment trade confirmations
  • IRS revenue agents' reports
  • Journals
  • Legal records, correspondence & other important matters
  • Minute books of directors and stockholders
  • Mortgages, bills of sale
  • Property appraisals by outside appraisers
  • Property records
  • Retirement and pension records
  • Tax returns and worksheets
  • Trademark and patent registrations

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