Inventory records by what they prove
- Income, expenses, assets, basis, payroll, tax deposits, returns, elections, and correspondence.
- Entity formation, ownership, governance, licenses, permits, insurance, contracts, and approvals.
- Personnel, benefits, time, training, safety, complaints, and workforce decisions.
- Customer, vendor, security, privacy, incident, system, and operational evidence.
Build the schedule from sources
For each category, document the official, legal, contractual, insurance, tax, or business source; the event that starts the retention period; the required or approved period; the record owner; the protected storage location; and the review date. Do not use a generic table as individualized legal advice.
IRS guidance says federal tax records should generally be kept as long as needed to prove the income or deductions on a return and identifies specific rules for some records, including employment tax records.
Control access, holds, and disposal
Limit access based on business need, protect sensitive records, preserve readable formats and metadata, test retrieval, document legal or audit holds, and use an approved disposal process. Retention without retrieval is not useful evidence; indefinite retention without purpose can also increase risk.