Organized records help you understand your business and support the information reported on tax returns. Start a system before receipts, contracts, and bank activity become difficult to reconstruct.
Business identity and operating documents
Keep formation documents, EIN confirmation, ownership agreements, assumed-name records, licenses, permits, leases, and important contracts together. Track renewal dates. Some documents may need to be retained long after a project or tax year ends.
Income, spending, and assets
Save customer invoices, sales records, receipts, deposit details, bank and credit-card statements, and evidence supporting business expenses. Keep records showing when equipment was purchased, what it cost, improvements, business use, and eventual sale or disposal. A statement or payment-app total alone may not explain a transaction's business purpose.
Label deposits clearly. Customer payments, transfers between accounts, owner contributions, and borrowed money should not all be treated as interchangeable entries. Clear notes help your bookkeeper determine the appropriate treatment.
Insurance, employees, and subcontractors
Maintain policies, endorsements, certificates of insurance, claim information, and audit records. Keep worker agreements and the applicable tax and payment records. For subcontractors, retain agreements, payment details, and insurance evidence covering the relevant work period. Ask your advisor which records apply to the actual working relationship.
How long should records be kept?
There is no single retention period for everything. The IRS generally uses a three-year period for many income-tax records, but important exceptions require longer retention. Employment-tax records generally need to be kept at least four years after the tax is due or paid, whichever is later. Asset records generally must remain available through the limitation period for the year of disposal. Contracts, insurers, employment rules, or legal disputes may require longer retention.
Make the system usable and secure
A practical approach is to organize records by year and category, reconcile financial accounts regularly, and use secure storage with restricted access and backups. Do not send sensitive employee or taxpayer information through a public website contact form.
How J&L can help
We can help organize bookkeeping, identify missing information, and establish a repeatable recordkeeping routine. Bring the records you have, and we will discuss a realistic starting point.
