how long to keep business records
Income Tax Records. The Internal Revenue Service requires companies to keep business tax returns and supporting documents for a minimum of three years from the time of filing. During this time, the return can be amended or audited. If you failed to report income, however, the IRS can come after your business for up to six years. If the business took a deduction for a worthless security or bad debt, the IRS can pursue the issue for seven years. To be safe, a business should keep tax records in its permanent files. If that's not possible, tax records should be kept for seven years to account for most scenarios where the records might be needed.