Record Retention Schedule

ONE YEAR
Bank reconciliations
Correspondence (routine) with customers or vendors
Duplicate deposit slips
I-9s (after termination)
Purchase orders (except purchasing department copy)
Receiving sheets
Requisitions
Stockroom withdrawal forms

THREE YEARS
Correspondence (general)
Employment applications
Expense analyses and expense distribution schedules
Insurance policies (expired)
Internal audit reports (in some situations, longer retention periods may be desirable)
Internal memos and reports (miscellaneous)
Petty cash vouchers
Physical inventory tags.
Savings bond registration records of employees.

FOUR YEARS
Employee payroll records (after termination), W-2 and W-4 forms, annual earnings records, etc.

FIVE YEARS
OSHA logs

SEVEN YEARS
Accident reports and claims
Accounts payable ledgers and schedules
Accounts receivable ledgers and schedules
Bank statements
Canceled checks (see exception under permanently)
Contracts and leases (expired)
Electronic fund transfer documents
Employee benefit plan records
Employee personnel records (after termination)
Expense analyses and expense distribution schedules
Inventories of products, materials and supplies
Invoices to customers
Invoices from vendors
Low-income housing records
Notes receivable ledger and schedules
Option records (expired)
Payroll records and summaries, pensions, payroll taxes
Purchase orders (purchasing department copy)
Sales records
Scrap and salvage records (inventories, sales, etc.)
Stock and bond certificates (canceled)
Subsidiary ledgers
Time books/cards
Voucher register and schedule
Vouchers for payments to vendors, employees, etc. (includes allowances and reimbursement of employees, officers, etc. for travel and entertainment expenses)

ELEVEN YEARS
Workmen’s compensation documents

PERMANENTLY
Audit reports of accounts
Canceled checks for important payments (i.e., taxes, purchases of property, special contracts, etc.) should be filed with the papers pertaining to the underlying transaction
Capital stock and bond records; ledgers, transfer registers, stubs showing issues, records of interest coupons, options, etc.
Cash books
Charts of accounts
Construction documents
Contracts and leases still in effect
Correspondence (legal and important matters only)
Deeds, mortgages, titles and bills of sale
Depreciation schedules
Financial statements (end-of-year; other months optional)
General and private ledgers (and end-of-year trial balances)
Inherited property valuations
Insurance records, accident reports, claims, policies, etc.
Journals
Licenses
Loan documents, notes
Minute books of directories and stockholders, including by-laws and charter
Property appraisals by outside appraisers
Property records (including costs, depreciation reserves, end-of-year trial balances, depreciation schedules, blueprints and plans)
Tax returns and work papers, revenue agents’ reports, and other documents relating to determination of income tax liability
Trademark registrations