Generally, the rule of thumb is to keep records for at least six years.
SOX Retention Requirements – 7 Years Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 (SOX) was modified in 2003 to require relevant auditing and review documents to be retained for seven years after the audit or review of the financial statements is concluded.
How long to keep records. Records must be kept for 6 years from the end of the financial year they relate. In essence this means you need to keep all records for 7 years (as it's 6 years plus a year to count for the financial year). HMRC has begun a compliance check into your Company Tax Return.
Record Retention Schedule for Businesses DocumentRetention Period Contracts and leases (expired) 7 years Correspondence, general 2 years Correspondence, legal and tax related Permanently Deeds, mortgages and bills of sale Permanently36 more rows
Accounting records Type of recordRetention period Bank statements and deposit slips 7 years Production and sales reports 7 years Employee expenses reports 7 years Annual financial statements Permanently3 more rows
Record-keeping requirements and SEC investigations For example, Section 17(a) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and Rule 17a-4 require broker-dealers to preserve communications relating to their business for at least three years and to provide those documents to the SEC upon request.
7 years: Any documents, accounts, books, writings, records or other information required to be retained, e.g. notices and minutes of all shareholders' meetings, resolutions passed at meetings and documents made available to holders of securities. Copies of reports presented at the annual general meeting of the company.
For example the Value Added Tax Act states that invoices should be kept for 5 years from the submission of the return. However, the Companies would require the financial records to be kept for a minimum of 7 years and therefore the company should adhere to the most stringent requirement of 7 years.
Minutes of meetings and company resolutions must be kept for at least 10 years from the date of the resolution or meeting to which they relate. Accounting and financial records should usually be kept for at least 6 years from the end of the financial year or accounting period to which they relate.