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Business Records Retention Schedule
Business records, especially those which are voluminous and bulky, should be disposed of as soon as they outlive their usefulness. To help our clients determine which records they should retain and for how long, we have reprinted the following schedule from The Practicing CPA. This schedule is only a guide and special circumstances can alter the retention period.
| 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 accounts | Permanently |
| Bank reconciliations | 1 year |
| Capital stock and bond records; ledgers, transfer registers, stubs showing issues, record of interest coupons, options, etc. | Permanently |
| Cash books | Permanently |
| Charts of accounts | Permanently |
| Checks (cancelled but see exception below) | 7 years |
| Checks (cancelled for important payments, i.e. taxes, purchases of property, special contracts, etc.)(checks should be filed with the papers pertaining to the underlying transaction) | Permanently |
| Contracts and leases (expired) | 7 years |
| Contracts and leases still in effect | Permanently |
| Correspondence (routine) with customers or vendors | 1 year |
| Correspondence (general) | 3 years |
| Correspondence (legal and important matters only) | Permanently |
| Deeds, mortgages, and bills of sale | Permanently |
| Depreciation schedules | Permanently |
| Duplicate deposit slips | 1 year |
| Employee personal records (after termination) | 3 years |
| Employment applications | 3 years |
| Expense analysis and expense distribution schedules | 7 years |
| Financial statements (end-of-year, other months optional) | Permanently |
| General and private ledgers (and end-of-year trial balances) | Permanently |
| Insurance policies (expired) | 3 years |
| Insurance records, current accident reports, claims, policies, etc. | Permanently |
| Internal audit reports (in some situations longer retention periods may be desirable) | 3 years |
| Internal reports (miscellaneous) | 3 years |
| Inventories of products, materials, and supplies | 7 years |
| Invoices to customers | 7 years |
| Invoices from vendors | 7 years |
| Journals | Permanently |
| Minute books of directors and stockholders, including by-laws and charter | Permanently |
| Notes receivable ledgers and schedules | 7 years |
| Option records (expired) | 7 years |
| Payroll records and summaries, including payments to pensioners | 7 years |
| Petty cash vouchers | 3 years |
| Physical inventory tags | 3 years |
| Plant cost ledgers | 7 years |
| Property appraisals by outside appraisers | Permanently |
| Property records (including costs, depreciation reserves, end-of-year trial balances, depreciation schedules, blueprints, and plans) | Permanently |
| Purchase orders (except purchasing department copy) | 7 years |
| Receiving sheets | 1 year |
| Requisitions | 1 year |
| Sales records | 7 years |
| Savings bond registration records of employees | 3 years |
| Scrap and salvage records (inventories, sales, etc.) | 7 years |
| Stenographer's notebooks | 1 year |
| Stock and bond certificates (cancelled) | 7 years |
| Stockroom withdrawal forms | 1 year |
| Subsidiary ledgers | 7 years |
| Tax returns and worksheets, revenue agents' reports and other documents relating to determination of income tax liability | Permanently |
| Time books | 7 years |
| Trademark registrations | Permanently |
| Voucher register and schedules | 7 years |
| Vouchers for payments to vendors, employees, etc. (includes allowances and reimbursement of employees, officers, etc., for travel and entertainment expenses) | 7 years |
This schedule is only a guide and special circumstances can alter the retention period.
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