As the scorching summer months approach, businesses across various industries are gearing up for a different kind of cleaning spree: record retention summer cleaning. With the sheer volume of documents accumulated over time, it can be overwhelming to navigate through the labyrinth of paperwork and determine which ones are important to keep and for how long. To alleviate this burden, KROST recommends referencing and reviewing this guide to help organize your files for long-term retention, as well as periodically discarding files when no longer needed. This will help ensure the relevancy of your files and reduce the need to keep extra information when it is no longer required. The below table is a general rule of thumb for common documents.
KROST RECOMMENDED RECORDS RETENTION SCHEDULE
It is important to note that Revenue Proc. 98-25 issued by the IRS recommends scanning in paper documents and retaining the information digitally. In addition to conforming to accounting standards, this will also increase efficiency if older files need to be reviewed. As part of CAS, we maintain records electronically for a period of time utilizing technology to assist in the digitizing of documents. This helps to keep documents secure and easy to access. Please contact us for further information or assistance.
Happy Summer cleaning!
Sources:
irs.gov/businesses/small-businesses-self-employed/employment-tax-recordkeeping
aicpa-cima.com/resources/article/document-retention-faqs-for-tax-practitioners