Retention Guidelines

Companies follow retention guidelines for important documents.

Human resources departments and other branches of a company must follow internal and federal guidelines on how long different types of documents must be retained. Guidelines differ based on the company but follow a few basic rules.

Tax Records

In addition to any corporate policies, the Internal Revenue Service states that all tax records should be kept as long as the statute of limitations for tax issues. If the company owed tax for a given tax year, keep the records for three years. If the company had a loss from bad debt in a tax year, keep the records for seven years. Check IRS guidelines for current rules. (See References 1,2)

Business Organization Documents

Any documents related to the overall organization or financial processes of a business should be kept permanently. (See Reference 3) These types of documents include stock documents, trademark documents, the company's constitution, annual financial statements, licenses and permits. (See Reference 3)

Financial Documents

Consult applicable regulatory agencies to determine required guidelines for record retention. Where no guidelines exist, HR Specialist recommends keeping accounts receivable records for 10 years, accounts payable records for 7 years, cash sales records for 3 years and bank statements for 8 years. (See Reference 3)

References

• IRS: How Long Should I Keep Records?
• BKD: Guidelines for Tax Record Retention
• HR Specialist: HR Record Retention Guidelines