Tax season is over making it a great time to clean out your filing cabinets, but did you know there are guidelines to when a document should be shredded? Luckily the IRS published guidelines regarding document disposal in order to help make it a little easier.
Based on recommendations from the IRS:
Keep One Year:
Purchase Orders
Notebooks
Stenographers
Receiving Sheets
Keep Two Years:
Employee Applications
Correspondence
Deposit Slips
Budget Forecasts
Keep Three Years:
Employee Expenses
Freight and Shipping Bills
Receiving Sheets
Keep Four Years:
Accounts Payable
Sales Records
Purchase Invoices
Inventories
Expense reports
Bank Reconciliation
Canceled Checks
Contracts and Leases
Keep Seven Years:
Accident Reports
Time Cards
Personnel Files
Garnishments
Payroll
Below is a list of records that the IRS suggests should be kept forever:
Union Agreements
Training Manuals
Actuals Reports
Audit Reports
Stocks and Bonds Records
Cash Books
Chart of Accounts
Trademarks
Tax Returns
Retirement Pension Records
Property Records
Patents
Procedure Reports
Year End Financials
Deeds and Mortgages
Copyrights
Our staff at Embassy can help you with shredding or secure document storage. For information about pricing and our services click here or call 800-717-1443.