How long should tax records be kept?

Generally 7 years from filing to cover 3- and 6-year assessment periods plus amendments. Payroll and 1099 files follow the same 7-year discipline with access logs.

How long for corporate minutes and ledgers?

Permanently for charters, minutes, stock ledgers, and audit reports. Supporting close binders 7+ years.

What is a legal hold?

Written suspension of destruction for litigation or investigation, communicated to custodians with acknowledgment, logged, and released in writing.

How do you destroy securely?

Shred paper via certificate, wipe electronics to standard, log destruction with approval. Never delete under hold.

Document Retention Policy 2026: Schedule, Holds, and Destruction Controls

Schedule (Minimums, Confirm Counsel)

Record	Keep
Tax returns + K-1s + 1099/W-2	7 years
Payroll registers + returns	7 years
Bank recs, GL, close binders	7 years
AP/AR support	7 years
Board minutes, charters, ledgers	Permanent
Audit reports + workpapers	7+ years
Privacy DSAR logs	Per policy, 3+ years

Pair with Record Retention Tax, Payroll Year-End, Year-End Close, and Board Minutes.

Controls

Owner per category, central index, access roles.
Annual review + hold check before destruction — see Internal Controls.
Backup tested — see NIST.
Destruction log with dual approval — see Audit Procedures.

Link to Compliance Checklist and Month-End Close.

Retention by System (Where It Actually Lives)

Record	System of record	Format
Tax returns, K-1s	CPA portal + immutable archive	PDF + workpapers
Payroll registers	Payroll provider + GL tie	Export + rec — see Payroll Year-End
Bank recs, close binders	Close drive, versioned	Signed PDFs — see Month-End Close
Contracts, minutes	Diligence vault (data room)	Executed copies — see Board Minutes
Email/Slack holds	eDiscovery export on hold notice	Preserved, not auto-deleted
HR files	HRIS vault, restricted	Access-logged

“Stored in someone’s inbox” is not retention. Each row needs one owner, one location, and one backup — tested per NIST. Map it once in a retention matrix; auditors and acquirers both ask for it (see Due Diligence).

Legal Hold Playbook (Step by Step)

Issue in writing within 24 hours of trigger (letter, subpoena, investigation, credible threat). Name the matter, custodians, scope, and “do not delete, do not auto-archive” instruction.
Collect acknowledgments. Every custodian confirms receipt; chase non-responders daily. An unacknowledged hold is an unenforced hold.
Suspend auto-destruction. Pause mailbox retention policies, Slack/Drive auto-delete, and scheduled shredding for in-scope custodians — document the IT ticket numbers.
Preserve broadly, review narrowly. Image or export liberally; counsel decides relevance later. Over-preservation costs storage; under-preservation costs cases.
Release in writing. When the matter closes, release custodians explicitly and resume schedules. Holds left open for years rot into ignored background noise.

Coordinate whistleblower-related holds with the Whistleblower protocol and the audit committee — never the subject’s chain of command.

Destruction Run (Annual, Supervised)

Once a year, with no open holds confirmed in writing: pull the eligible list from the matrix, dual-approve each category, witness shredding/wipe with certificates, and log date, method, approvers, and certificate IDs. File the log permanently — proof of routine, policy-based destruction defeats spoliation claims far better than ad-hoc deletions. Train every custodian on holds before the run, not during it.