Businesses of all sizes need to have a clear, easily communicated strategy in place for document retention, document storage, and document destruction. Local and federal regulations offer guidelines for what specific documents need to be retained and for how long, and how documents should be stored or destroyed. At Citizens Business Archives, we are a document shredding company in Tucson, AZ, that offers cost-effective, customizable document destruction services and secure document storage for business documents and records. Here is our guide to what to shred versus what to store.
What to Keep Forever
Some documents should be safely and securely stored forever. They can be stored electronically in a scanned form if they do not contain an original signature. If you need a hard copy, they should be stored in a secure document storage facility that is access-controlled and fire-protected, like our records storage warehouse in Tucson, AZ. The documents you should keep forever include:
- Birth and death certificates
- Adoption paperwork
- Deeds and title documents
- Trust documents
- Wills and power of attorney
- Social security cards
- Citizenship paperwork
- Passports
- Marriage and divorce decrees
- Tax returns and major financial records
- Military discharge documents
- Life insurance policies
What to Keep for Seven Years
Other documents should be securely stored for at least seven years. This protects you from liability and ensures you have access to original business documents and contracts and important paperwork should a legal issue, audit, or dispute arise. Documents that you should keep for seven years include:
- Income tax returns
- Supporting tax documents like W2 forms, 1099s
- Bank statements
- Credit card statements
- Investment purchase and sale confirmations and brokerage paperwork
- Charitable donation receipts
- Receipts of asset sales
- Real estate transaction paperwork
- Personnel records and paperwork
- Bookkeeping records
- Audit paperwork
What to Keep for a Month to One Year
Other documents should be retained for one month to one year. If you are self-employed, you should keep your utility and cell phone bills and any receipts for work-related purchases for at least one year for tax purposes. If you own a business, you should keep a digital or hard copy of your monthly bank account and credit card statements, pay stubs for employees, and correspondence regarding personnel issues.
What to Can Shred
Any business documents and records that are outside of the necessary retention period can be securely destroyed. You can also shred documents that don’t need to be retained but that contain private, confidential, proprietary, or financial information, such as:
- Correspondence
- Receipts
- Personnel files
- Canceled checks
- Copies of checks, receipts, or other financial documents
- Business documents that contain confidential or proprietary information
- Copies or printed out emails with confidential information included
- Documents or paperwork that contain addresses, phone numbers, birth dates, social security numbers, phone numbers, email addresses, passwords, names of minors, license numbers, and any other personally identifying information
At Citizens Business Archives, we offer solutions for companies of all sizes who need secure document storage and document destruction services in Tucson, AZ. We can pick up business documents and records from your facility and transport it to our 18,000 square foot warehouse, where it will be carefully indexed and cataloged for easy retrieval. We can also schedule on-demand or regular pickup of secure shredding bins and make sure your documents are thoroughly and securely destroyed. To learn more, call us today at (520) 882-4434 or contact us online.
