It is important to hold onto your business records in case of an IRS audit or other examination. Retaining unnecessary records will soon exceed storage space available for most businesses. Therefore, you may wish to establish a retention schedule that takes into account state and federal regulations, as well as industry standards. These guidelines are courtesy of Postlethwaite & Netterville, if you have questions about destroying any tax or accounting records, please contact P&N at 225.922.4600. The retention periods are intended as a general guideline, which applies to both paper and electronically stored records.