FAQ Business Formation

How long should I keep business and personal records?

The basic answer is that you want to keep records long enough to protect yourself in case of lawsuit, audit, or the need to prove ownership, an expense, deduction, etc.  Businesses should maintain a retention schedule so that you regularly and consistently destroy certain records when the retention period has passed. 

The following website contains a good guide to the retention period for different types of records: http://www.cpa.net/resources/retengde.pdf