Corporate Records What to Keep

Whether youve created a corporation or limited liability business, you ought to preserve records. Heres a primer on the simple corporate records you want to preserve. Corporate Records When forming a corporation or limited liability company, you are creating an entity independent from yourself.contractor accountants In so doing, this independent entity ought to take actions for itself, not you. For instance, a corporation will have a corporate bank account via which all revenues and debt payments are handled. As a shareholder, even with a single shareholder entity, you will not spend person expenditures out of the corporate bank account. This notion extends to record keeping. For the objective of this article, I am contemplating both corporation and restricted liability company documents as corporate records. Though the records of each entity have distinct names, they serve the same purpose. For instance, articles of incorporation for a corporation serve the exact same objective as Articles of Organization. The following list applies to corporations, but you can apply the list to the restricted liability equivalents. Though every state has different records requirements, all call for you to preserve the following records. 1. Articles of Incorporation The charter establishing the existence of the entity with the related Secretary of State. two. Bylaws The guidelines of the corporation. Basically, the bylaws set out how the corporation will be administered from a procedural perspective, the rights of shareholders, how meetings will be called and so on. 3. Board Resolutions These are resolutions passed by the Board of Directors from time to time, such as defining classes of corporate stock and approving distinct courses of action for the company. four. Minutes of Shareholder Meetings five. Annual Meeting Each and every state demands a corporation to have at least one meeting of the board of directors each year. Keep these in your corporate book. six. Shareholder Communications Copies of all communications to shareholders. Most states demand you to hold these for three years, but you really should keep these permanently to guard against future shareholder lawsuits. 7. Shareholders A list of shareholders and the shares they own. 8. Annual Report Most states demand you to file an annual or bi-annual report with the Secretary of State. Keep copies of these in your corporate records. Most states give a pre-printed form. 9. Balance Sheets Shareholders have the proper to inspect the finances of the corporation, though this correct has limitations. You need to have to preserve up to date balance sheets. ten. Tax Returns So, how extended ought to you maintain these corporate records? Some attorneys will tell you 3 or 5 years. Personally, I think you should maintain them permanently. If a shareholder dispute happens, you dont want to testify you via away a document. If the business is eventually sold, the buyer is going to want to see all corporate records. Either way, you are much better off holding on to all records.