How long should you keep records at your company?
One of the new requirements introduced by the GDPR is that organisations must set and communicate the retention periods for documents and/or information containing personal data. This raises the question: How long should we keep documents at the company?:
In many cases, these retention periods are being reported in relation to, for example, the duration of the contractual relationship. However, the reality is that, regardless of whether the contractual relationship is in force or not, there are various statutory retention periods for business documentation, which are linked to different types of liability, including tax, employment, civil and/or administrative liability.
In this article, we set out the various data retention periods which, in general, should be taken into account.
General Rule on the retention of documents within the company
In virtue of what is established in article 30 of the Code of Commerce, and unless other criteria, all of the documents and/or company information will be retained during 6 years ago.
This affects all the documentation, accounting, tax, labor, or commercial, including the correspondence.
Specific deadlines
Our company also must score a minimum time limits, depending on the type of data concerned, and according to the different periods of prescription, which must know each of the departments.
In this box relate to the periods of limitations that affect or may affect our organization:
| Subject | Prescription | Rules |
| Employment matters relating to breaches | 3 years | Art. 4.1 RD 5/2000 |
| Social Security for the purposes of administrative offences | 4 years | Art. 4.2 RD 5/2000 |
| Occupational Health and Safety for the purposes of regulatory offences | 5 years | Art. 4.3 RD 5/2000 |
| Tax inspector for the purposes of tax debts | 4 years | Art. 66 Law 58/2003 |
| Tax authority for the purposes of verifying off-set contributions or deductions applied | 10 years | Art. 66 bis Law 58/2003 |
| Accounting and business | 6 years ago | Art. 30 CC |
| Crimes against Public Finances and Social Security | 10 years | Art. 131 WHAT 10/1995 |
Other deadlines for retaining documentation
There are other documents for which there is no specific retention period.
In any case, the recommendation would be:
- Loans: Their retention until they are returned or written off.
- Guarantees: They will be retained until they have been cancelled.
- Capital goods: These must be retained until the VAT regularisation period has expired (which may be up to 9 years).
- Records relating to financial years with negative tax bases: These must be retained for four years after they have been offset.
Money laundering
Article 25 of Law 10/2010 of 28 April sets out a minimum period for the retention of documents:
- 10 years for documentation demonstrating compliance with legal obligations in this area.
Specifically:
- Copies of the documents required under due diligence measures.
- The original or a copy of the documents or records that adequately substantiate the transactions and the parties involved.
Solicitor – Partner at Auris Advocats
DPO-Specialising in data protection and compliance with the new GDPR