What are the legal requirements for retaining records?
There are several governmental authorities that regulate records retention requirements. Some of these are the IRS, OSHA, Department of Labor, and various state agencies. But recent legislation has also placed additional requirements on record keeping. These include HIPPA that deals with medical information and privacy, the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act that addresses financial information security and identity theft prevention, the Sarbanes-Oxley Act that results from the financial scandals of Enron and Arthur Andersen, the Homeland Security Act and the US Patriot Act. Failure to implement and comply with these various laws carry severe penalties for businesses and their owners, directors and officers.
