business record keeping

[gone fishin]

Is there anyone who is in business for themselves on this site who knows the record keeping requirements for how many years do the paper records have to be kept?

I'm running out of space to store them. I wonder if I can charge the government a fee for storage--

[hemi]

2 yrs
Repair orders
Internal RO's
Daily sales summary

3 yrs
Time Tickets
Prepaid and Accured Expense Jurnal
All Trial balances

4 yrs
Petty cash Vouchers and Envelopes
Odometer Statements
Insurance Policies after expiration

6 yrs
Invoices
Office receipts
PO's
Credit memos
Cash rec and Disbursement Journal
Purchase Journal
Payroll Journal
General Journal
Register sales slip
State and Local sales and gross receipts tax returns
U.S. and state Unemployment tax returns
Social Sec tax returns
Withholding tax returns

10 yrs
Bank Statements and Cancelled checks
Bank drafts and paid invoices
Vendor invoices
All Customer files
Employee earning and history records

Permanently
Employment apps
Tax Returns
Financial Statements
State Annual Report
Corporate Min Book
Employee Contracts

Have Fun

[macojoe]

Storage is cost of doing business. write it off on your taxes as such!! Also if you are working at home, you can take for a portion of electric, Heat, and space as a tax write off!!

[MakoMike]

Originally Posted by macojoe

Storage is cost of doing business. write it off on your taxes as such!! Also if you are working at home, you can take for a portion of electric, Heat, and space as a tax write off!!

Only if you use the office space in your home as the only place you meet with customers, vendors, etc. If you use any other place or if you use your office space for any non-buisness use, you can't write off a dime of it on your taxes.

[Nebe]

A little off topic-
Mike can i deduct the full value of a piece of glass that i made if i donated it to a charity?? I ususaly donate small objects worth under $50, but this year i may donate some larger work and would want to deduct it.