POD - Legalities & Holding

AccountsReceivable@DRC

AccountsReceivable@DRC

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Mar 25, 2008
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Morning Members,

Does anyone know the legalities regarding POD's and how long a company needs to keep originals or copies on file?

There seems to be some conflicting information on this question.

A business legally must keep financials on hand for 6 years. This does NOT include invoice copies (that information is contained within the financials). Most POD's are attached to invoices - and then filed away.

A company with a cargo claim has 9 months to file against the carrier who damaged/lost the goods. At which point the POD needs to be present within the claim process. After 9 months - the incident is null and void.

So I would interpret from this that at the 10th month - a company no longer is required to hold onto POD's (should they choose not to).

I have asked the OTA for some direction on this also. Just wondered if any of our "smart cookie" members had the correct information and where the answer was sourced.

Thanking in advance for any direction on this.
 
Our CA has us hold onto ours for 7 years and then we toss.......not sure what the legal part is but he says 7.
 
I think we also do 7 years for originals.

It all gets scanned either way so we have copies of everything dating way back!
 
most professions keeping papers for at least seven years.
Recent decisions of the court and the requirement to keep records for a period after the final transaction make this more difficult (not seven years from when the document was created!).
Always remember “It sensible that a company adopt a document retention
policy to ensure that documents are only discarded or destroyed in accordance with the law and in a systematic manner” (Phillip, 2006).

With the readily available advanced technology that is available, it is prudent to
preserve files using scanners and other electronic storage means rather than destroy them.

In a nutshell The Govt can audit you back 7 yrs, companies generally follow this guideline.
 
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