Historical company records

[tali1]

How long are major companies obliged to keep historical company records like sales figures/customer database, past employees?
If there is no legal requirement do they keep them for ever or bin them ?

[mowl]

The following information is taken from the Institute of Directors site (section 7 of the pdf) - hope it helps:
http://www.iod.com/intershoproot/eCS/Store/en/ pdfs/st15fili.pdf

1. Accounting records for an ordinary limited company must be retained for three years.
� There is no legal minimum period for sole traders or partnerships.
� Plcs must keep accounting records for six years.
2. Sickness and sick pay records, and records relating to maternity pay, paternity pay and adoption pay, must be retained for three years.
3. Pay records must be kept for a minimum of three years after the end of the tax year the earnings relate to.
4. VAT records and documents must be kept for six years.
5. Contracts must usually be kept for six years, though contracts under seal must be kept for 12 years.
6. Tax records must be kept for at least six years, as HM Revenue & Customs can raise assessments up to six years after the end of the period the assessment relates to.
� There is no legal time limit (in effect, it is 20 years) in cases of tax fraud.
7. Where there have been any problems, such as industrial injuries, health and safety records should be kept for at least 12 years, as claims for personal liability can be lodged up to 12 years after the event.
8. Records relating to some hazardous substances, for example, asbestos, may need to be kept for up to 40 years.
9. The requirement to retain your compulsory employers� liability insurance certificates for 40 years ended on 1 October 2008.
� Employers are still required to display their certificate of insurance at each place of business.
The certificate can be made available to employees electronically providing all employees can gain access to it.

[Skyline D]

No1 is contradicted by numbers 4 and 6 since you'd need the accounting records to provide VAT and tax info.

Accounting records should be maintained for six years PLUS the year you are currently in.

On the specific examples asked, sales info would have to be kept six years for tax and VAT purposes but wouldn't necessarily have to include superfluous info about customers. Employee records would certainly need to be kept six years.

Different companies do different things. I have had clients who had all their records going back almost 100 years and I've had clients who threw records out after a couple of years and took the risk they'd never be asked for them. Generally most keep them six years and then bin them though.